After Mononoke
by Preacher
Summary: The warlord Asano's revenge draws in more than just Lady Eboshi- Ashitaka, San, and a plethora of gods are now entangled in a conflict that will make or break San. Chapter 7 up.
1. Capture

Aah. Summer.

At least, that's when I'm starting this. I'll probably finish it sometime this fall. I received the movie "Princess Mononoke" from a very dear pair of friends who know more about anime than pretty much everyone in my entire state combined (just for the reference, that state is normally either insanity, inspiration, or denial, aside from several combinations). They kept telling me "Watch it. It's the best anime around." About a month later and after five or six viewings, I have to agree.

But after the movie, there were still things that went unanswered. Of course, there was Ashitaka and San. What's going to happen now that the spirits are gone? How about the rebuilding of Irontown? What about that Warlord Asano? Wouldn't he be rather upset that with two shots Lady Eboshi wiped the majority of his army off the face of the Earth (referring to the shots she used to kill the forest spirit)?

I had to watch the movie one more time just to make sure I got all the spellings right. What would I do without closed captioning? Anyway, I'm sorry, but I had to say something before I started. I always do.

Summer 2003 ~ that summer has come and gone at least once, and my delving into the world of Princess Mononoke has never yet been finished. Recently, I saw Miyazaki's work Spirited Away, and that has renewed my interest in this fiction. As once was said, "rise from your grave". This will be undergoing a massive rewrite, including correction on several names. 

DISCLAIMER: See bottom of story.

AFTER MONONOKE 

By Preacher

Dearest dedication to my anime knowledgeable friends, S.F. and A.F., and to P. T., for his agreeing on this great anime.

A renewed dedication to C.G. and Hiyao Miyazaki, as well as the various anime sites I now regularly visit for my Ghibli information (Mehve Ghibli, Nausicaa.net, and the soon-to-be-redone Princess-Mononoke.com).

~Chapter 1: Capture~

Lord Asano was a dangerous man on many days, but today he was in an especially furious mood. Of the approximate one thousand men he had sent into battle with Lady Eboshi and her gunmen in the great fight of Irontown, perhaps seven hundred had survived the first assault. They fared better in the next attack, their numbers dwindling down to hover near five hundred and twoscore. Now, Asano listened to one of his spies in a rage, hearing what terrible fate had befallen the rest of his men.

"My lord, after the second assault our men broke off the attack to wait until sunrise. That night, we were keeping a close watch on Irontown. We had managed to take its outer walls and had driven back those accursed women." The spy, Jengo, made his report. Jengo stammered and stuttered, bringing his news forth between gulps of air. He had run without almost any rest for almost three straight days after the start of the rebuilding of Irontown. 

He continued. "I was inside the fortress, as you instructed, keeping a close watch on the women and the few lepers who are Lady Eboshi's smiths. Everyone was either sleeping or discussing where Lady Eboshi had gone. She had gone to kill the forest spirit-" 

"To get the reward for making the Emperor immortal." Asano finished in disgust. As much as he was glad to be in the emperor's service, the man's desire for immortality was foolhardy. "Continue." 

"The night had settled in, rather, when everyone was awakened in a large commotion. There was a great wave of black ooze, heading over the hilltops. It collided with your army, my Lord, and it…ate the life out of them." Asano growled with displeasure but did not interrupt. "Afterwards, I had learned that the ooze was created by Lady Eboshi, as she beheaded the forest spirit. When the forest spirit's head was restored, by two…runts I later learned were an exile Emishi named Ashitaka and San, the Princess Mononoke, the ooze was dispelled." 

Asano leaned forward, wishing to hear of the death of his old enemy. "Was Eboshi killed by the ooze?" He asked. He would have killed her himself, but if she was dead in a horrible way he would be nearly as pleased.

Jengo tremored slightly. "No, my lord." Asano growled. Jengo shook. "However, she did lose an arm to the wolf god Moro, my lord." 

Asano slammed his hand on his throne's armrest. "_Continue._"

"My Lord, now they are rebuilding Irontown. Eboshi is still alive, should you wish to attack her again."

Asano growled again. "You are dismissed, Jengo. I will call for you, should I need further information." Jengo bowed low and exited with little dignity. 

"Fifty score of my best soldiers went in to that war. I got two score out. Two score cripples and one blasted spy." Asano sat at the nearby desk and began to plot what would be the perfect revenge against Lady Eboshi. One hand scratched out his thoughts into words while the other held still over the old wound where Eboshi had shot him, years before, in another battle. He was never going to get over that. The wound was his curse to live with eternally.

~

Several days trek away, Lady Eboshi was in an optimistic mood. Despite the loss of Irontown, the rebuilding was going very well. The wood that was once part of the huge furnace house was now being reworked to construct new homes. Eboshi watched from a distance as the large group of able-bodied men and women worked to rebuild her once glorious city. Twice she caught glimpses of the young man Ashitaka hauling wood along with the rest of them. His inhuman strength that was born of the hatred of his curse was gone, but his immense willpower was still there. He was not anywhere near as strong as Gonza, but he hauled just as much. If not for him, she would be dead. 

Eboshi looked down at the red scarlet silk which covered the place that had once been her right arm. Eboshi knew that her arm was a far better thing to lose than what she could have lost should she have been standing only a foot more to the right when the severed head of Moro had attacked. And to think-that daughter of Moro's had been the one who helped save everyone from the wrath of the Nightwalker. Eboshi sighed and stood. She had been feeling well enough to walk in recent days. She strode over to Gonza, directing where a team of workers should begin rebuilding the crop gardens. 

"Milady?" Gonza said smartly, turning and standing at attention. 

"Gonza, has there been any report of the monk Jiko since he left a week ago?" Gonza was clearly puzzled at the question. Eboshi and Jiko were not on the best of terms at the moment. Something to do with Jiko having Eboshi do his dirty work and then show little interest by nearly getting her killed. 

"Err, no, Milady. I have heard that he left looking for a fast way to get rich." 

"Hm." Eboshi chuckled. Would he ever change? "Gonza, when you get a moment, please tell someone to send for him." 

"Yes, of course, Milady. Er…with force?"

Eboshi smiled her dagger smile.

~

Since the Great Forest Spirit had died, the forest that was once his now had an undetermined fate. The Forest Spirit could no longer protect the forest, and so that duty fell on San. It had taken days after days to assess the damage to the forest from the spirit going wild and becoming a god of death. San had found dozens of trees, themselves dead but covered in new growth. Perhaps the biggest discovery was that the ancient tree that was Mother to so many of the Kodama in the forest was, by some miracle, alive. Though it had been hit hard by the life-draining ooze, it still stood, and the Kudama were slowly returning as it gained health. San spent many long hours trying to understand the series of strange events that had occurred, and the deaths of so many- The Forest Spirit, the Boar God Okkoto, and her own stepmother, Moro. A remote cliff top provided a fine view of the rebuilding of Irontown. While the fires of that city did not burn, San's hatred for it still smoldered. 

"Cursed humans…Ashitaka, why do you help them?" San said through gritted teeth. Shiroi, one of her brothers, nuzzled her. Shiroi was the more reserved of the wolves, he was the one who had stayed with San and helped her guard Okkoto, who had delivered the crystal dagger to her. She scratched his head and glared at Irontown. Perhaps it was just the wolf in her, but she felt as if she would have to fight them again one day… 

~

Jengo had again been summoned before his lord Asano, and if he was visibly shaking the last time he was now trembling with fear. Spies were like the information they carried- used and disposed of. Asano, in his typical regalia, swept around the room. He was passionately considering many things, the most of which was how to use Eboshi's relationships to extort her. 

"Jengo, I need more information about the boy, Ashitaka." Jengo blinked. He knew virtually nothing aside from Ashitaka's being Emishi, exiled, and having a red elk. 

 "Yes, my lord. What shall I tell you?" Jengo shook, but hoped he didn't look any more suspicious. He might have to bluff. That could kill him.  

"What's his standing with Lady Eboshi?" 

This question was completely unexpected by Jengo, and it took him a moment to formulate a response. "I…would certainly say that Eboshi is on a…good standing with him…she admires his courage…he's almost like…I'd say a favorite nephew." 

"Yes, yes." Good. A nephew. Not perfect, but good. "Would you say that Eboshi would respond to this boy being held ransom?"

Another stunner for Jengo. He decided to play dumb. 

"You're more intelligent than that, Jengo. You know what I'm thinking. Capture the boy, lure in Eboshi…"

"Erm…sir…this boy…" Jengo  

"What about him?" 

"He's…well…dangerous. He was the same lone soldier who rode through the raid we performed on a village a month or so ago. He just fired a couple of arrows and one man got his arms lopped off and another lost his head- completely."

Asano blinked. That sounded far too familiar.

"Aside from that, he'd be almost as well protected as Eboshi herself." 

"Are you suggesting some other plan?" Asano said. He did not say it through clenched teeth; rather he switched to an oily voice he usually reserved for diplomacy. It was formal, respectful, and deadly. Jengo had lost what little spine he had left, and he certainly was expecting Asano to lash out harshly. Much to his surprise, the warlord didn't. 

"Well, Jengo?" 

"Suppose…suppose we could get the boy to give himself up?" 

Asano let out a booming, sinister laugh. "You're suggesting I just walk into Irontown and say: 'Alright boy, you're coming with me, I'm holding you hostage'?"

"Er, no sir. You see, the girl San, the Princess Mononoke, and the boy Ashitaka are…rather fond of one another." He paused. This was the first time he was certain he had Asano's attention. "She would be easier to capture, with at most a couple of giant wolves watching over her. If we used her as bait-" 

"We'll draw in the boy! You're smarter than you look, Jengo!" The spy did not know whether or not that was a compliment or criticism, so he kept his mouth shut. Asano had just found his trump card. 

"Tell me everything you know about the girl." Jengo babbled his information like a brook. The spy was certain he might have made some of it up on the fly. He finally finished after recounting every wild fact he had heard from the boisterous men of Irontown.

"Excellent. Jengo, you've been a very valuable source of information to me." Asano walked around the spy one last time, and stopped behind him. 

"But I'm afraid you know too much." The warlord stepped forward and slew the spy in one quick thrust. The body of his agent crumpled to the floor and gave a few final twitches before lying still. Jengo's eyes were wide with shock. For every possible death he had dodged, he had failed to see the most obvious one.

"Taisho!" Asano called to his captain of the guard and acting commander since his predecessor, Shidōsha, had been sniped by Lady Eboshi. He was a good head taller than Asano, and could trace his bloodlines back to a northern barbarian tribe. His head was shaved and covered in tattoos that denoted his family and tribe, but these were faded and crisscrossed with the scars of time. 

"Yes, lord?" Taisho replied. He stepped forward and kneeled, showing his blade, bow, and quiver, all carried on his back. The man was Asano's bodyguard when need be, but was a dreadful sight to see in battle.

 "Take twenty of your strongest men and go to the sacred forest near Irontown. You will be attacked- expect it! There will be a girl and a pair of wolves, guardians of the forest. Bring me the girl. I want her _alive._" 

"Aye, lord." Asano retreated into the depths of his palace, knowing sweet revenge was drawing ever closer with each passing minute. His hand subconsciously rested over his wound. Soon, Eboshi. 

~

Yakkul trotted along at a brisk pace down a dirt path. Ashitaka did not need to guide him; since he had taken up residence in Irontown Yakkul had been allowed to roam the forest freely, and had seemingly memorized all of the quickest routes to wherever Ashitaka needed to go. This was merely a routine visit to see San, in the previous days they had little to do but sit by the waters of a small brook and discuss whatever came to mind or to walk through the forest and see each of nature's finest spectacles. The girl knew every nook and cranny of the forest, but often when they would visit places she so often had come as a child, they would be found in ruin because of the destruction the forest spirit had caused. Often he had helped to try and rebuild these places. It was slow work, but it was helping.  

Ashitaka let his mind wander until Yakkul gave a sudden jolt and bolted off the path into a thick grove. Ashitaka lay low to the elk's back to avoid being hit full in the face by a passing branch. Soon, Yakkul's run turned to a slow walk, and Ashitaka dismounted. The elk was calmer, but still very much alert. Parting some nearby brush, he gazed at the discovery that had made Yakkul skittish. There were men, each well armed and armored, off in the distance. They were some ways off, but the path that Yakkul had been taking would have risked confrontation. The elk clearly had sensed that these were dangerous men, and his instincts were usually right. Better to not remain seen, Ashitaka concluded. His eyes strained as he tried to get a better view of them. A few were mounted, and there were two flag bearers carrying a symbol of the emperor and another of the warlord Asano. Soon they had passed into the edge of the forest. 

"Walk silently," Ashitaka whispered to his elk companion, "we have no business meeting them." Ashitaka remounted and Yakkul made a slow pace through the forest, making next to no sound on even the most cluttered path. 

~

Somewhere deeper in the forest, San pulled away the last of a felled tree that had been blocking a small stream. She sat down to catch her breath, gazing at her knife nearby, embedded in a piece of the former dam. The grassy slopes leading down to the stream bristled with new life, and now the water could reach further and help to nourish more plants. San turned her head to look at Kuroi, her other brother, as he came charging up the recreated stream at a fast lope. Kuroi had been trapped and found by Ashitaka after the boars battled the gunmen, and had asked if he could crunch Ashitaka's face off. He was more reckless of the brothers, but was by no means stupid. 

"San, there are people entering the forest." He growled. 

"What kind of people? Are they from Irontown?" San walked over and pulled the honed wolf's tooth knife from where it rested.

"They aren't from around here, that's for sure. They smell like horses and metal. Most of them are mounted, and all carry weapons. They're coming from over there." He jerked his head in the direction he had come. 

"Let's go." She said, climbing onto Kuroi in a fluid motion she had perfected over many years. The wolf and girl set off into the heart of the forest. Several minutes ride later, they found Shiroi keeping a close watch on the party while keeping out of sight. San suspected Shiroi had stayed just to keep his brother out of trouble. San kneeled and gazed in the direction both wolves were watching, and saw there a group of armored soldiers fighting their way through an overgrown path. The most regally dressed of them, a man with a tattooed scalp who was clearly the leader, pushed a branch out of his way and ducked under it, hitting a friend behind him full in the face when he let it go. San smiled grimly. They were idiots, all muscle and no brains. It was time to make them stand and fight. San rose and her brothers followed suit.

~

"Blasted forest!" Taisho shouted as he struggled through a bush. "We ought to just burn it to flush out-" 

"Taisho, sir!" One of the men called out. 

"What?" Taisho barked back. 

"Look…there!" The man in question pointed. Ahead on the path there stood a most peculiar sight- a teenage girl and two wolves both larger than horses. The parties merely watched one another for a moment, sizing each other up, and then the girl spoke. 

"What is it you want in this forest, humans?" San shouted out in a voice that contained no wasted breath on unwanted invaders. "You have no business here." 

"On the contrary, wolf-girl! We have come to take you prisoner! Surrender yourself to General Taisho in the name of Lord Asano and order the wolves to back away at once!" 

Kuroi growled softly: "Over my fly eaten carcass." 

From Taisho's view, it looked as though the girl were pondering the request. Then, in the blink of an eye, the three were gone. Taisho and his men stood there for a minute, gazing dimwittedly at the spot where the wolves had been. Taisho, regaining his senses, bellowed orders. 

"Where'd they go? FIND THEM, YOU IDIOTS!" The group spread out to search the bushes, Taisho walking back and forth shouting and ranting at his men. He punted and slapped a few for good measure, but stopped abruptly in the middle of berating a soldier when there was a muffled scream and one of the men was pulled into the bush he was searching. Taisho went to investigate, finding the man dead with wolf fang marks on his throat. Another scream, then a third, and two more men were found in similar shape, wolf fangs and one with his throat slit. The remaining group pulled into a tight circle, weapons at the ready, each one hoping not to be the next victim.

Without warning, the wolves charged, San mounted on Kuroi's back. The men raised their array of weapons to defend themselves, and the wolves darted to one side, then back, and with an immense vault, they landed right in the middle of the men. Various blades harmed the wolves, and slashed through fur to pierce skin, but blades do little to harm the sons of a god. Kuroi and Shiroi had the upper hand, with sheer size, not to mention teeth and claws. San herself dealt death in a fierce melee, spinning, slashing, dodging and ducking, landing dozens of blows unharmed. One man was taken down with a low spinning sweep of her leg, then another met her wolf's fang knife head on with his sword. Tooth and metal screeched until San drew back once hand and punched him in the face. He staggered and she brought her dagger into his middle. She vaulted over a slashing sword and brought down its owner when she dropped onto his shoulder, stabbed him in the back, and rolled off. San cut herself a path to Taisho, who waited, sword drawn. His stance was mocking her. He wasn't fighting out of necessity like the rest of his men, this man wanted a challenge. San would bring it.

"Come on, little cub. Let's see you fight." Taisho said in a taunting voice. 

"I'll make you pay for defiling my mother's forest!" San retorted as she launched herself at the bulky man. 

Taisho was an experienced warrior, but he had rarely faced the likes of Princess Mononoke herself. He blocked skillfully at every blow she made, but the young woman's fierce determination and youthful limbs made it difficult to fight her. She took two steps back before redoubling her efforts to little avail. Despite the bulkiness of his blade, Taisho handled his sword with grace and speed. Finding an opening, San dashed below the curved blade of the sword and rammed him as hard as she could in the groin. She was startled to look up at his face and not find the slightest implication of pain. Taisho raised a massive fist and dealt a crushing blow to San's head, and she slumped to the ground motionless. The battle had been turned in Taisho's favor. He picked up the limp form of San with one arm and held his blade at her throat with the other.

"You there! Wolves! Back away from my men or the girl dies!" Kuroi dropped the body of the man he had been thrashing violently and Shiroi threw another into the bushes ten feet away with a powerful toss of his head. They both faced Taisho, fangs barred, clearly waiting for an opportunity to attack. Taisho wouldn't give it to them. He gave the blade a small jerk to prove he meant his threat. Snarling, Kuroi and Shiroi backed off. 

"I'll be watching you the whole way out of this forest, wolves…make one aggressive move and you shall know the consequences." Slowly, the remaining men left, leaving behind only the bodies of their dead and a pair of bloodied, battered, and helpless wolves. Kuroi started to head back to the den to lick his wounds, and Shiroi followed, but not before retrieving San's dagger from the ground where it had fallen. 

~

"San! It's me!" Ashitaka emerged into the cave San occupied as a home. Only her wolves were there, both tending their hurts. 

"We've been able to smell you for the past twenty minutes. You were upwind." Kuroi growled. He was aloof and clearly angry.

"Where's San?" Ashitaka asked. 

"Men…the stink of your kind…why does she trust you humans?" Both wolves growled. 

"Where is she?" Ashitaka repeated. 

Both faces turned into cruel, bloodthirsty smiles. "Gone." The wolves related the tale of the fight and San's capture. 

Ashitaka gaped. He felt like he had been hit in the back of the head with something. He sat down. "Who would have done this?" He thought, silently.

Soldiers. Warlord. Asano.

"Were the men carrying a flag?" Ashitaka made a small sketch in the den floor. 

"Yeah. See for yourself if you like, we took one of them down. He'll still be lying back where his friends left him." Shiroi growled. Kuroi muttered something about dishonoring the fallen. 

"Aren't you going to go after them?" Ashitaka asked the wolves. 

Shiroi made a harsh bark that Ashitaka took for a laugh, Kuroi responded. "We might be powerful creatures, but our tribe would be nothing without San." 

"She took on Moro's place. We look to her as Moro's successor." Shiroi continued. 

"She is more than merely a Princess, now she is Chief of the Wolf Clan. It is our duty to rescue her."

"I'll come." Ashitaka said. "I want to save her as much as you do."

"We need no help from you, human. This is our mission." Kuroi snarled. 

"No." Ashitaka was not about to be stared down by San's little brothers. "San saved my life, and I want to pay her back as best I can. Besides, do you really think that they would let a pair of wolves into Asano's palace?"

~

_"Ugh."_ San would have spoken that if she had been in any shape to. She actually tried, but nothing came out of her mouth. Her head pounded. She opened her eyes and stared at the running water below her for a good ten seconds before she realized that there was in fact water there, and she tried to throw out her hands to stop herself. Her wrists wrenched painfully against the ropes and wood that bound her, and she cried out in pain. That to failed, no sound came out but a muffled moan. San realized she had been gagged. She men on the front and back of the pole she was being carried along on didn't stop, they were too busy navigating the river they were wading in. With a great effort, San turned her head and looked out at the massive rush of water. The war party was on one of the banks, and was clearly going to head into the sparse woods on this side of the river. San realized they must have already crossed, but the river and trees were places she had never seen before.

San was still quite dazed, but she thought for a moment about what exactly these men would be doing. Having seen Kuroi and Shiroi, they would try and throw them off by following the river. It would slow down her brothers, but not stop them. They could cover miles of river in an hour looking for the trail. The war party marched steadily until the sun was hovering evenly on the horizon, then stopped and began to set up a camp. They positioned her, pole and all, leaning against a tree. It was excruciating- her feet barely touched the ground so that her entire weight was on her wrists. She had endured it at length before the dumb brute who had fought her came over and wrenched the gag off her mouth. 

"What do you want me for?" San demanded the moment Taisho had removed her gag. She was still tightly restrained- her hands and feet had both gone numb long ago. Taisho was in no danger, much to San's displeasure. 

"I don't want you for anything, brat! Frankly, I'd prefer to have you dead…but that wouldn't fit Lord Asano's orders." 

San strained her arms, attempting to break free. Pain flared in her wrists and shoulders. "Then what does he want with me? I've never offended him!" She said, working hard to keep up a brave affront. She was not intimidated by the man, but the pain of the position she was in was torture.

Taisho growled. "All I know is that I was sent to get you. Now shut it, or I'll gag you again, whelp!" 

San brooded silently, fuming over the situation. She was unsure where she was, and knew there was no chance for escape. Over the hours, she learned that there were always at least two men awake, usually watching her with caution. She had checked her physical condition- aside from a few cuts and scrapes and a very large sore spot on her head, she felt fit enough, but those ropes! If only she had a knife. How she wished now she had not turned down that gift from Lady Eboshi for helping to save those Irontown humans- a small knife, only as long as a finger. She knew the knife well, as she had nearly been killed with it. Soon San grew weary of thinking how she had missed all the chances to get out of the situation, and fell into an uncomfortable sleep. She didn't envy the though of how her shoulder joints would feel after a sleep in the position she was contorted into.

~

DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever…)

Concerning ownership and character names…

San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.

Characters of my own creation include the following, with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:

Asano – well, I flushed out his personality a bit, and there's more of that to come.

Jengo – I have no idea where the name came from, I believe I just thought it up in the first draft and never changed it. It works. 

Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that. 

Taishō – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taishō means "general (military), leader, admiral". Guess what he is.

…and that wraps up my rewrite of part 1! Onward!

…and the obligatory review request is supposed to go here, but if you've read this far, you're either a diehard who has to finish something even if you hate it or you're someone who likes/loves/is indifferent towards the fic. Drop me a line, I need a bit of motivation to stoke my creative muse. 


	2. Escape

See bottom of chapter for disclaimer.

~Chapter 2: Escape~

It had been a long several hours since Eboshi had seen Ashitaka, and although she was not worried, she did have some curiosity as to where he had gone. Lady Eboshi walked past the open door of Ashitaka's home, and saw the young man placing various items into a traveling bag. Several clothing items, some cured meat, fruit, a length of extra bowstring and bow wax- Eboshi knocked softly on the open door with her left hand and stepped inside. 

"Good heavens, Ashitaka, where are you leaving for?" 

"I'm sorry, Lady Eboshi, but I'll be leaving Irontown for a while." Ashitaka said as he strapped on his sword. "It's a personal matter." 

"Is there anything I can do? Should I have Gonza and some men accompany you? Where are you off to?" Eboshi questioned out of genuine concern. She had seen too many young men wander off because of personal matters and never come back. Ashitaka was someone she was indebted to, and she wished to repay that debt. 

"I'm off to meet Lord Asano." Ashitaka stated as if he was not concerned that he was about to visit Eboshi's sworn enemy. 

Eboshi raised her eyebrows in confusion. "You're doing what?" 

"I'm sorry, Milady, but I must be off. Yakkul!" Ashitaka called to his elk. Yakkul was carrying another bag of supplies, as well as his saddle.

"I bid you good day, Lady Eboshi!" Ashitaka shouted as he mounted Yakkul and sped off, the people of Irontown parting and watching him go. Eboshi watched the quickly receding figure of Ashitaka for a moment, before she was interrupted by the quiet clearing of a throat behind her. 

"Yes, Gonza?" 

"Milady, Jiko is here to see you." 

"Ah, good." 

~

"So, you want me to rid you of Asano, eh?" Jiko Bou repeated as he sipped some tea thoughtfully. He was inwardly confused as to why he was not being hunted or why Eboshi had not ordered her guards to kill him, but he wasn't going to show it.

"He's an ever growing thorn in my side and is probably going to try to kill me again, sooner rather than later." Eboshi sighed and stared off into the mountains. "If I could be rid of him, it would be the end of a long vow for both you and me." Eboshi turned to look at Jiko.

Jiko grinned behind his teacup. "Well, I can't deny that. But, as for me doing all the work, it'll cost a pretty pile of gold to convince me." 

'Kill Asano, eh? Then what, Eboshi? Kill me?' Jiko thought. What was her game?

Eboshi gestured to a nearby table. "There's five thousand gold pieces there, each the size of your thumbnail and all handcrafted by one of my smiths. They all await you once Asano is dead." Eboshi watched as Jiko's eyes widened considerably. "But you'll have to convince me, Jiko. Bring me his sword. Then I'll keep my end of the bargain." 

Jiko turned and grinned. "Well, times are hard, so I can't say no to an offer like that. Very well, Eboshi, it's a deal." The two shook on it, rather awkwardly, since Eboshi was lacking a right arm. 

"Also, I'll throw in an extra five hundred if you'll do me a favor." Eboshi said. "The boy Ashitaka left here a short while ago. Follow him, helping him in any way you can. Is that too much to ask?" 

Jiko smiled craftily. "Make it six hundred and I'll do it." 

"Done." 

"Very well- the sword of Asano and helping out Ashitaka. You drive a fair bargain, Eboshi." 

"I'll have my kitchens prepare supplies for you and my citizens help you to prepare in any way I can." 

"That's very nice. Thanks!" Jiko left, his wooden shoes making a hollow noise on the path below.

Gonza, who had been waiting in the wing of the room with his hand on the hilt of his sword the whole time, stepped into view. He bowed to Eboshi and finally removed his hand from his blade.

"Why do it, milady? What can you get out of it?"

"If Jiko manages to kill Asano, then I'm rid of my greatest enemy for virtually nothing in return. That's a week's worth of income from before our disaster. We can easily get it back, and more quickly if there's no rouge warlord to hamper us. And, if Jiko dies, I lose nothing in the attempt, and I buy time while Asano's cleaning up a little affair with Jiko's friends."

"And if Jiko decides to side with Asano?"

"Will I really be much worse off? I can handle a monk and a few men with blowguns."

~

The setting sun carved out a position in the western mountains, a jagged ball of flame blazing the last remnants of it's light before extinguishing and letting night settle in. Ashitaka and his three animal companions halted at a small stream. Surrounded by a rocky outcropping, it was an acceptable, if not perfect, place to rest for the night. Yakkul and the wolves each had their fill from the small stream, and Ashitaka helped himself to a sparing meal. 

It had been a long day, even if they had only been traveling for four or five hours. The wolves had met Ashitaka a safe distance from Irontown, and they had begun a long and arduous trek following the trail of the raiders. It was clearly the horses they had that had allowed them to escape quickly. If they had been moving on foot, they would have been at the mercy of the wolf brothers long ago. They had wanted to continue riding through the night, but as Yakkul was already straining to keep up, Ashitaka had forced them to stop. Now, they finally settled down begrudgingly.

Ashitaka had settled into a light sleep when both wolves suddenly bolted upright. They had not been asleep at all, by comparison. Both were growling softly. Shiroi slowly and silently walked over to Ashitaka, bending his head closely to Ashitaka's ear. 

"There's someone nearby. I can't say who…but I know their smell…" He growled softly. Ashitaka rose as quietly as he could, taking his bow and quiver and nocking an arrow to the string. He walked over to stand in between the two wolves, arrow drawn tightly on the bowstring. 

"Where are they?" Ashitaka murmured. 

"I'm facing them" Was the wolf's short response. He was indicating a bush about ten feet off. Ashitaka stared. For a moment, nothing happened. Then it moved, just for an instant. Ashitaka checked his bow to make sure the arrow was set properly, and then walked in a small half circle around to the side of the bush.

Step by step, he moved closer. Suddenly, a black figure burst and tumbled from the bush, and Ashitaka barely checked his fire in time to avoid killing his stout monk friend Jiko.

Several minutes later and after some brief explanations, things were sorted out. Kuroi and Shiroi were untrusting of Jiko, mainly because he had helped Eboshi kill the forest spirit. That distrust, combined with already being set on edge, was making the wolves extremely irritable. Ashitaka too was slightly edgy, with all the commotion when he should have been asleep. Jiko, however, was pulling various objects from his pack, which must have been almost as big as he was. For Jiko, any time was fit for a meal, namely right then. He pattered around a small fire as Ashitaka watched from a small distance. Ashitaka felt foolish to think Eboshi had sent someone to guard him- to babysit him! He frowned at the thought. He was no child. He could take care of himself, without help from Lady Eboshi. The fire played upon his eyes, and he slowly drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

Jiko watched as the boy stared into the fire and eventually fall asleep, his chest rising rhythmically up and down. The wolves, however, were not going to sleep at all tonight. Right now they watched him with glaring eyes. One of them licked his chops. Jiko blinked and turned back to his meal. Eboshi had not mentioned anyone being with Ashitaka. It was probably Jiko's oversight; while he had tracked the boy successfully, he had neglected to notice that there were more than elk tracks. Jiko decided he wouldn't give the wolves any opportunity to catch him off guard. He settled into a nook in the base of a tree and looked out over the fire. It started to rain very lightly, and the flames sputtered and died as the rainfall increased.   

~

San, miles away, was wide awake. She had taken careful note of her surroundings: they had crossed the river early today, perhaps three hours after the fight in the woods. Right now, it was late night and the group of soldiers who normally guarded her had fallen asleep, and only Taisho remained up. It was raining, albeit lightly, but the ropes that held her were noticeably stretching from the moisture. This could be her chance to escape. Taisho, however, was all too aware of every movement San made. He sat only ten feet away, glaring at her. Every now and then, he would turn and prod the fire with a stick, and it was then San would work her wrists as hard as she could. The ropes were slackening…she was so close! Just as San silently began to slip her hand from the ropes, there are was a shriek of something flying through the air and a spear, hurled by Taisho, thudded cleanly into the ropes, now binding San tighter than ever. Taisho took his time briefly tending the fire, then he rose and walked over to San. Taisho put his bullish face inches from hers and growled out an oath. 

"I serve my Lord Asano with my life, and as I don't wish to die, I will see that you can't possibly escape." Asano removed the spear from the wood and tightened the ropes once again. San's wrists, already sore and cut, were once again firmly secured. 

"Sweet dreams." He muttered as he drove her head sharply onto the pole she was tied to, sending San into unconsciousness with a small "aah" of pain.

~

Jiko, for being a fat monk and wearing raised sandals, was incredibly agile. A swift running river with rocks sticking out here and there proved to be no real obstacle for him, as he vaulted across, landing neatly on a stone each time. Ashitaka waded across through waist deep water, while Yakkul, Shiroi and Kuroi each crossed with no difficulty. Jiko vaulted the last twelve feet onto dry land, where he was intentionally soaked as the wolves dried off on either side of him. Jiko tried as best he could to reverse the 'damage' while Ashitaka examined the shore. There were scattered ashes and footprints in the wood's edge; this was where the soldiers had camped. It was clearly well chosen, both for comfort and food as well as being able to easily discern any approaching threat. The wolves both put their noses on the ground, instinct guiding them forward through some dense brush. Ashitaka, Jiko, and Yakkul all followed, and after a short walk were greeted by a most amazing sight. At the far edge of this forest was an immense, ragged cliff with a huge dropoff. Ashitaka surveyed the view, peering into the distance. 

"No sign of San…but what is that?" Ashitaka thought to himself. Realization hit him hard. Off in the distance, there was a city. It was just as grand as Irontown had been before it was destroyed. Towers, vast roads, smoke drifting up from dozens of chimneys, and a grand palace. On the far side of the city was a vast bay, and a steady trickle of ships made their way in and out of the harbor far below. Ashitaka was examining the vast city when Kuroi gave a harsh bark. The wolf growled and lunged down a narrow path to the side of the cliff. Shiroi charged after his brother. Ashitaka, mounted on Yakkul, and Jiko went scrambling after the wolves. Yakkul had little trouble navigating the path, but the uneven and crumbling pathway was difficult for Jiko to manage. He stumbled and rolled more often than he had stable footing on his perilous slide down.

Taisho saw the wolves charging towards them faster than any of the horses could outrun them. He ordered his men to make a run for it, taking the last two in the group and giving them a good hard shove. Bait and switch, a primitive but effective tactic. The wolves would take the easy prey and the rest of the group would make it safely to the city. 

Sure enough, the wolves were on the two betrayed warriors like lightening. Ashitaka and Jiko barely had time to intervene; the wolves were bloodthirsty for vengeance. Fortunately for them, the lives of the men were saved, not to say that their conditions were any better- one had Ashitaka aiming an arrow at him, the other with a sword Jiko had produced being held at his throat.

"Please don't kill us!" The men groveled helplessly. 

Jiko grinned widely. "We won't…oh, but they might." He said, pointing to the wolves. 

"Where are the rest of you?" Shiroi growled viciously. 

The soldiers were too frightened to even think about the fact that they were being threatened by a giant, speaking wolf. "They…they're headed to Kaigan, Asano's city. We…we could take you there." 

"Then get up," Ashitaka motioned with his loaded bow, "and get going." 

Jiko, not one to waste any opportunity, pilfered everything decent from the two soldier's equipment. They didn't complain. A few swords and what money they were carrying on them wasn't as important as getting out with all four limbs and a head.

The walls of the city Kaigan loomed before the small company, grander than Irontown's with more refined wooden beams and archer's turrets spaced regularly along the length. From the guard tower, a watchman called down. "Who are you and what is your business, stranger?" 

"My name is Ashitaka and I have come of my own accord. We wish to enter. We found a pair of soldiers of this city abandoned by their comrades, and we wish to return them." Ashitaka called back. 

"Aye," replied the man, "and would the fat old dog standing next to you be the monk who robbed me blind in his trip three years ago?" The sentry's voice took on an edge. He apparently recognized Jiko. 

Jiko grinned. "Ah, shut your whining, Tobira, and open up!" He called back with no less nerve, rapping on the door of the city to stress his point. 

The wolves growled audibly behind Ashitaka. They had elected to stay off in the sparse trees to the sides of the main entry path, but were still potentially risky to be seen. 

"Stay low," Ashitaka told them, "if they see you it might ruin the chances of us getting back San."

The great gate creaked open, not opening outward like the door of Irontown, but swinging inward in two separate parts. The soldiers, dishonored and robbed, moved quickly inside and vanished in the crowds there. Ashitaka and Jiko stood taking in the city. The streets of Kaigan were crowded, as all cities are, but they had a clear scent of open air untainted by fire and soot. The sentry from the door, Tobira, came down and greeted Jiko warmly. For his harsh words, the two seemed to be old friends. Ashitaka forced his way through masses of crowds haggling rice, meats, and other goods. The grand palace at the end of the city grew slowly closer until, finally, Ashitaka stood inside the courtyard. It was a well-kept and clearly affluent palace, but from what Ashitaka knew it's outer appearance belied inner evil. Ashitaka walked forward over the threshold of the palace doors alone, into the hall of Asano.

"What have we here?" Asano sneered softly upon his throne. He knew all too well. He had received a hasty report from Taisho just minutes ago. The boy, it seemed, had taken the bait. Now Asano had to convince him to trade places with the girl. Then he would have some bargaining power with Eboshi. 

Ashitaka did not waste time, fearing San's safety. "My name is Ashitaka. I have come from Irontown following a war party. I seek the wolf girl, San." Ashitaka said. The man sitting in the shadows of the throne was clearly intending to be seen as an ominous and brooding figure. His voice seemed huge, filling the otherwise deserted hall.

Asano grinned a fiendish grin. "Ah, yes. The wolf girl. Ashitaka, was it? She was in here a while ago. As she was led off, she shouted your name. She was screaming something dreadful." 

Ashitaka shook with anger. If they had harmed her, if they had hurt her…"What do you want in exchange for her?" Ashitaka said, his voice harsh. 

Asano knew he had the upper hand. "The fact is, boy, I want you out of the way. You turn yourself over to me, I set the girl free. Would you die for her?" Asano was playing with the boy's honor. Such a foolish thing, the overblown pride that was honor. It was merely an invitation for others to use you as a doormat.

"I must see her." 

Asano's sneer returned quickly. "A visit? Only under my eye, boy." 

The warlord stood, his robes sweeping the ground, and as he passed into a ray of sunlight Ashitaka finally got a good look at him. He was tall and regally dressed, his hair slick and black in a fine black bun. He kept a short moustache and goatee, with each being notably pointed, creating a very sinister face. His eyes were dark and brooding under low black brows. He was tall and solidly built, but carried himself with refined grace and dignity, as well as a slight air of scorn for all who were unworthy to even speak to him. One of his hands was inside his robes, and Ashitaka could not see that Asano clutched his old wound, which throbbed like fury. 

He led Ashitaka through corridors and hallways until they reached a small enclosure. In the center of the enclosure sat a crude wooden cage. In the cage was San. She was battered, dirtied, and bleeding in several places. A trio of guards nearby looked far worse. San saw Ashitaka and rushed over to the edge of the cage, wide-eyed and desperate. Ashitaka could see her better- she had a bad cut on her forehead and the back of her hair was matted with blood, but she was still in one piece and not seriously injured in any way. Ashitaka knelt next to the bars and they each looked at each other. Neither knew what to say for a moment. 

"I…I'm going to get you out of here." Ashitaka said, not meeting her eyes when he said it. 

San blinked, not looking away but again trying to meet his eyes. "How?" 

"By giving myself up to him." Ashitaka finally looked back, and this time in his eyes there was fear and determination.

 San's eyes went wide with concern. He didn't need to do this. "Ashitaka," she said whispered through clenched teeth, "don't. He'll kill you! It's what he wants!" 

"San, you are more important to me than myself. You need to keep living. Don't worry about me."

San felt tears prick the corner of her eyes. "Ashitaka…" 

"San…"

~

Alone, San walked out of the gates of Kaigan. The eyes of the citizens followed her, and a small crowd pushed it's way along from a safe distance behind her as she staggered like she was blind through the gate. It had been opened wordlessly, and now it closed wordlessly behind her. Her legs seemed to be moving by themselves, and they shook terribly. She turned back and looked upon the closing gates with eyes clouded by tears. She did not look at the gates, she looked far beyond them to the palace where Ashitaka had imprisoned himself. Her voice broke as she made a vow.

"Asano, this isn't over yet. He won't die for me. I won't let him…" 

~

DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever…)

Concerning ownership and character names…

San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.

Characters of my own creation include the following, with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:

Asano – well, I flushed out his personality and physically created him, and you'll be seeing still more of him in future chapters.

Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that. 

Taisho – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taisho means "general (military), leader, admiral". Guess what he is.

Kaigan – Means "seashore, coast, seaside, beach". It's a coastal city, hence Kaigan. I thought it sounded city-like.

Tobira – Tobira, the doorkeeper of Kaigan, has a name that literally means "door".

…and that wraps up my rewrite of part 2! Part 3, the first new addition to this fic in years, is also now up! Entitled "Kuma Tsume". Who is he? You'll see.

…and the obligatory review request is supposed to go here, but if you've read this far, you're either a diehard who has to finish something even if you hate it or you're someone who likes/loves/is indifferent towards the fic. Drop me a line, I need a bit of motivation to stoke my creative muse.


	3. Kuma Tsume

See bottom of chapter for disclaimer.

~Chapter 3: Kuma Tsume~

The forest was impervious to the small, curled up figure wracked with grief that lay shaking between her two wolf brothers. A squirrel darted from tree to tree, somewhere nearby a bee took off from a flower with a loud buzz. Several meters away from the wolves (judged as a safe distance) sat the rotund monk Jiko. Being either insane or impervious to compassion (or the knowledge San would probably react with hostility to any comfort he would try and give), he sat eating silently.

Author's Note: Yes, Jiko would have to be crazy to eat at a time like this…Ladies and Gentlemen, the Japanese version of Wimpy.

San's body shook. The tears had stopped long ago and now she merely lay wracked with grief, making no noise but shaking from sadness. Her feelings for Ashitaka had not ever clearly come into focus until only hours ago. She was a wolf, she always had been. He was a human, her natural born enemy. But something, some human instinct within her that had not been destroyed from being inhuman her whole life was realizing that Ashitaka had just taken a death sentence to save her. Her brothers tried their best to help her, but it was truly her burden alone to carry. Two emotions were in play in San's mind. The first was shock- the shock that Ashitaka had cared enough to accept her fate when she would have contently killed him on more than one occasion. The second was rage. Rage against the warlord Asano. She had run over and over in her mind how she would kill him, but it still didn't help, for Ashitaka would never approve of it. San finally slowly and painfully forced herself into an upright position. Her face was stained and her customary war paint marred from both harsh treatment, fighting off her captors, and now dirty streaks from tears. She was grief stricken, but she was also clearly capable of killing anyone who got in her way. Jiko glanced at her but did not move. Without Ashitaka he was being very careful to avoid getting on Kuroi and Shiroi's tempers.

Although San was mentally wounded, her body required nourishment- something she had a lack of at Asano's hand. She hadn't had anything to eat for the better part of two days. She shakily stood, unsure if her legs would support her weight, and climbed onto Kuroi's back with little of her usual grace. The wolves moved forward into the depths of the forest to find a meal.

After a few minutes of careful tracking and confrontation, dinner was caught. A deer served as a meal for the trio, although for Kuroi and Shiroi, it was less than a snack. They ate to encourage San to, and she did. She prayed silently for forgiveness for having killed the deer, and thanked it for its sacrifice. After getting something in her stomach and feeling a bit better, San walked for a short ways in the forest until she found a small stream. There, she cleaned her knife and face and washed the deer's blood from her hands. She dipped her entire head in the stream, savoring the cool indifference of the water, and washed the blood spilled in her captivity from her forehead and hair. With canine behavior she shook the water from her hair and reset her headband. Finally, gritting her teeth, she pricked her left forearm with her dagger and watched as a trickle of blood flowed from the cut. She wiped her finger through it and carefully traced her face, both cheeks and her forehead, reapplying her tribal paint. She normally used mud that was a vivid red from the clay on the banks of Lake Irontown, but the soil here was a fine earthy topsoil with none of the rust-red minerals. Her own blood would do- it smelled of iron, like the mud. She looked into the stream to see how she had done, and aside from looking like she had stared down hell itself she was satisfied with her appearance. She let the cut clot and washed her hands again, this time her own blood flowing away in the waters. She stood and faced her brothers, who had been watching silently the whole time.

Something deep in the forest crashed, and with a sudden movement the wolves both turned.

"San, we must go." Kuroi growled in a voice that was harsh and to the point.

"What is it?" San asked, her instinct now overcoming her troubles, momentarily. She felt no fear, but her hunting reflexes were quickly being charged.

"Bears." Shiroi growled.

"But I thought the wolves had always been at peace with the bears." San said.

"Wolves have. But…humans aren't."

"Don't bring that up now!" San shouted, anger flaring for a moment, but Shiroi cut her off.

"You are enough of a wolf to be safe, but the fat one…"

San jumped onto Shiroi's back, her old readiness back again, and the wolves sprinted back the direction they had come. They arrived to see Jiko still sitting at the tree; apparently not at all aware of the deadly situation he was likely in.

"You- get up. Now." Kuroi barked. Jiko stood when there was a massive rumbling roar from behind the nearest trees. The branches were ripped aside, and in the center of two towering trees stood Kuma Tsume, the Bear King.

Kuma Tsume, standing on his hind legs, was a good three feet taller than the rest of his bears, making him about twelve feet high. He had a wild appearance: a crown of leaves wreathed his head; untamed black eyes glinted in the dappled light like opals against his brown fur. Behind him came the rest of his tribe, some on four legs and some on two. The bear tribe was a tribe of true warriors, tempered and manageable unlike Okkoto's impulsive clan. Kuma Tsume did not head a tribe so much as he did an army. He was also much more cool-headed and slow to anger. Unlike Okkoto and Nago, he knew the values of patience and planning. He moved forward a pace, and San could feel the sheer power that this beast god held- he was fully capable of ripping a man to shreds with his claws each as long as San's entire hand.

He apparently would get that opportunity if no one stopped him.

"What man has defiled my forest?" Kuma Tsume roared, his voice loud but level. His tribe roared after him and the din shook the leaves on the trees around the clearing. He strode over to Jiko in three quick strides and picked him up by the collar, lifting him off the ground to face the bear king eye-to-eye. Kuma Tsume cried a terrible howl and if Jiko were not paralyzed by fear he would have mouthed off about the volume. San rushed forward to stand in front of the bear king. While there was only one person she would have been more glad to see die at the hands of this bear god, she would stop him, for Ashitaka's sake. Even then, she wouldn't be able to do much, but she could try. 

"Kuma Tsume! Spare him!" San shouted.

Kuma Tsume let out a bark-laugh and bent down to face San. His massive eyes, a solid black, stared her down. San felt fear for the first time since she had stood head to head with Okkoto, but knew that Kuma Tsume would not attack her.

"And why should I, wolf princess? He is in my territory, he is a human, and he has defiled this forest before. The wolf tribe, as honorable as it is, has no business in the forests of Kuma Tsume." He was calm with her despite his rage, which was clearly bravado put on for his tribe. If Kuma Tsume was truly angry, he would have done away with Jiko in seconds.

Kuma Tsume's other claw reached up and tapped the side of Jiko's head. It was like some strange sort of toy in the hands of a god. "And besides, little wolf, why are you here? Where is your mother Moro? For I have much to speak with her about."

"Moro is dead." San said. She said is harshly and quickly to avoid her voice failing her. She still grieved mother's death. 

"Dead?" Kuma Tsume roared louder than before and San had to cover her ears. "How can Moro be dead? She is a god!"

"She died from a human bullet fired by her greatest enemy. It poisoned her and she died saving me." San said once the bear king stopped to listen. Kuma Tsume threw aside Jiko forcefully, who rolled on the mossy ground for a fair ten feet before stopping abruptly when he hit a tree.

"Word of such a tragedy had not ret reached these woods, and I am saddened that you had to be the bearer of such news, young one." Kuma Tsume said in a low, solemn voice. "If your mother has died, then you …Moro's human child…you are the leader of your Clan." He said in a sagacious voice that betrayed the ferocity of his spirit and his race.

San blinked. That was unexpected. She didn't have much time to think about it, as Kuma Tsume continued.

"BEARS!" He roared to his clan. "The blood of all the clans of the world has been lessened by the will of these humans. They must pay in blood! Send messengers to the tribes of the boars! We shall avenge!"  
"No, wait!" San shouted. "I have other news, Lord Kuma Tsume. The boar Lord Nago died from the same curse, and Lord Okkotonushi in a trap laid by the humans. Also…the forest spirit of my native forest was destroyed as well."

"Two of the three boar gods dead…am I the only one left capable of fighting? No, for there is Kitsune and Inoshishi and Risu…" Kuma Tsume named the fox, last of the boar, and squirrel gods.

"…Neko-Goto and Taka and Fukuro…" San followed, naming the cat, hawk and owl gods. She had learned this hierarchy of gods as a child, and had met at one time or another most of them.

"Moro taught you well, little one. In her absence, you have become the leader of your clan. Therefore, I must consider you my equal."

"As your equal, Kuma Tsume, I ask you spare the life of this human." San gestured to Jiko, still very much dazed from his collision with the tree.

"Very well, young chief. Come, there is much for us to discuss." Kuma Tsume began walking in his giant strides and San hurried to keep up. Her brothers tagged along, leaving Jiko still dazed at the base of the tree. The bears would not touch him, but they would certainly watch him until he left. Kuma Tsume led her back to the cliffs, the nearly vertical rock walls that she vaguely remembered seeing from her transport to Kaigan. The cliff face here was pockmarked with caverns, and bears and their cubs moved in and out of these and along narrow slope pathways with ease. The paths along the cliffs were wide and covered with mosses and roots that almost seemed like stairs. This was the bear haven, the ancestral home of Kuma Tsume's tribe. In the highest cavern, at the very top of the cliffs and built right below the ground above, lay the den of Kuma Tsume. Only the bear king and San entered, Kuroi and Shiroi sitting outside on either side of the door, waiting patiently. A massive rock outcropping served as his throne and bed, and light filtered in through holes in the ceiling, those shafts of sun framed by roots. Kuma Tsume lay down on his throne to converse with San, standing about head level with her when the outcropping ended.

"I have not seen you for many winters, young one." Kuma Tsume said in his quietest voice yet. He was a god of war but also a god wiser than most. "The last time Moro made a journey to my forest was at a time of plenty, before the humans had become so reckless in their burning of trees and stripping their metals from the earth. When she came last time she brought with her a tiny child, not yet able to walk, and proclaimed you as her daughter. 'Remember this child, Kuma Tsume,' she said to me, 'for the future of my clan will rest in the hand of one who is not my own'. And now, you have taken the reins of your tribe into your hands as Moro once told me, San. It is your choice to their fate."

"What…what did my mother mean by saying that, Kuma Tsume?" San said, taken aback by the weight of her position. She was leader of her tribe, their fate rested in her hands… 

"While we gods possess the power of prophecy, we do not dare to try and see where fate does not want us to. You must find for yourself what your mother meant by her words." The bear god said defensively. There were terrible legends about gods who had delved too far into the future, and were haunted for eternity with seeing the fates of their dying clans. 

San was quite confused. She would determine the future of her clan…what did that mean?

"Tell me, San. Tell me how Moro and Okkoto and Nago died." Kuma Tsume asked in a softer voice. He would be the first person who would listen about Moro's death. Her brothers had been grieved enough that they need not talk about it, and it was too personal an issue to discuss with Ashitaka. But the bear king was both quietly insistent and patient to hear.

"My mother…" San began. She was still saddened by her death, but was not about to deny the bear god what she knew. "…She died a god's death. Her wound had poisoned her and she lay by the pool of the forest spirit to pass on to the next world. Okkoto, who had been cursed by the humans, had been consumed in his rage by Tatari Gami. The curse god consumed his flesh and mind, and it attempted…to consume me." She would never forget the terror of being in the clutches of the god of madness and death, Tatari Gami. "Moro, in her dying movements, pulled me free from the grasp of Okkoto, and then the forest spirit came to take both their lives. I was saved by…" 

San paused. She could be treading into dangerous ground here. "…By my mother's actions, but that damned woman who rules the iron city came and beheaded the forest spirit. I had to reclaim his head and return it to him, and after I did, he died as the sun rose and dispelled him. The forest is recovering, but it feels his absence and feels…insecure."

"And Lord Nago?" Kuma Tsume and Nago had fought by each other many a time in the ancient days. 

"I…only know he died far to the east, in lands he had never seen. The bullet within him drove him mad and Tatari Gami took control of him."

Kuma Tsume was silent for a moment and then gave a grave nod. "Young one, you now stand as leader of your clan, but before you can assume your full role, you must be ordained by the council of the gods."

San frowned slightly. It would delay what little plans she had to attack Kaigan…but what else could she do? While it might be dangerous to admit her bond to Ashitaka, she needed more than just her brothers to invade a city ruled by such a fiend as Asano.

"Already I have sent word on the wings of birds to the other gods. They travel swiftly. By tomorrow, we shall be prepared to welcome you as your tribal leader." Kuma Tsume said this and stood. 

"I understand, Kuma Tsume. I present my thanks for your hospitality."

"You and your brothers may rest here tonight, young one. I shall see to it that you need not worry about food or rest while you are here." Kuma Tsume walked past her and out the door, and disappeared down the path in the cliff face. Kuroi and Shiroi entered a minute later, walking over to San and laying down, licking her face in a silent question as to if she was all right. 

"I'm…fine." San said, but she and her brothers knew it was not the truth. So much had happened in the past day that she felt sick with all of it. "I'm to be ordained tomorrow as leader of our clan." She said, not looking at either of them. They both stared when she said this. They already saw her as their leader, but to be ordained by the gods was an occurrence that had never been heard of. She was a wolf, had grown up a wolf, ate, walked, hunted, and spoke like a wolf. She though and acted like a wolf, but visibly she was human. That part of her was all that seemed to matter. And now, Moro's ugly, beautiful daughter would become the leader of her tribe. For Kuroi and Shiroi, it was an unexpected change. Her brothers were happy for her, smiling somewhat forcedly, but they also knew the permanency this appointment carried. Moro would become another name in the legends of men.

San needed some time to herself, but she wouldn't get it soon. A bear arrived presently to escort Princess Mononoke and her brothers on a tour of the cliffs and then to dinner with the tribe- a welcome feast for their guests. The cliffs were not, as San could now clearly see, merely a residence for the bear tribe. It was a fortress. Every He-Bear, She-Bear and cub was capable of fighting, and the cliffs were a natural defense against any human assault. Sticks, rocks, and debris were packed together with mud along the edges of the paths, forming protection that could be toppled down below if need came. The caves were deep and dark, making combat within them nearly impossible. And at several points where mudslides of years gone by had washed out the paths, there were crude bridges made from fallen trees that could be removed and later replaced. The forest of the wolf clan was a home. The cliffs of the bear tribe were a stronghold.

Dinner was a rich affair of meats, berries, and fish, but both Kuroi and Shiroi opted to dine by themselves. San was left rather uncomfortably by herself with the clan, which she could see numbered somewhere in the fifties. The bears were discreet about eating, at least, unlike some other, less refined tribes. The entire while, though, San's mind was a tangle of thoughts, fears, and possibilities. She was tired by the time the sun finally set and her brothers returned. 

~

Asano watched the sunset with pleasure. The day had gone very well- he didn't have to keep that wolf girl caged for longer than an hour or so, the boy had come promptly and had fallen into the trap quite nicely. He had sent a messenger along the coast to the emperor, who would be lending Asano the aid of his fleet for his eventual attack on Irontown. He had the bait, he had the backing…he deserved a little celebratory libations. 

He smiled again as he rolled the last of his sake around in the small cup he held. That wolf girl had been the talk of the town, and was quite a fighter. Or so Taisho said. His bodyguard and general had little difficulty dealing with the little runt. Take away her family and she lost her bite. The boy…had intrigued him. He had taken his beatings like a man, not fighting back like that wolf girl (although the guards were much more cautious nonetheless). Hellfire, he had actually said he didn't blame them for their actions. How kind. He was level headed; no coward and no fool, but he had a soft heart. That was his fatal flaw. 

He downed the last of the sake and strode over to a broad table that rested at one side of the hall. On it was a sheathed sword, a bow and it's string, a cloth cap, and a straw cloak. Asano picked up the sword and removed it from its cover, admiring the skill someone had used in crafting it. This was clearly not a warrior's sword- it was a sword for royalty. He swung it once in front of him, brought it around in an offensive stance, then cleanly took the corner off the table with an upward stroke and cleaved the flying timer in two with a cross slash. Then he brought the blade quivering tip down into the table next to its sheath. 

Royally crafted indeed. Asano preferred a longer blade, but that was no kitchen knife. He would send the cap to Eboshi as proof, but keep the blade. He would need it.

Asano replaced the blade in its sheath and strode through the halls of his palace, eventually coming to a rear balcony that overlooked the bay and port of Kaigan. The ships sent to aid him would arrive in two days, and then he and his prisoner would be on their way to pay a little visit to Lady Eboshi. The sun set with a fire that was as cold as the blood in Asano's veins, and the warlord grinned one final time.

~

Ashitaka was battered and bruised, but still sat silently in the middle of the wooden cage in the courtyard. He had a cut on his back that pained him with every breath he took, and a bruise right below his right eyebrow that glared pain when he blinked, but he kept his hands on his knees and his feet folded in a lotus position. He was thinking, since there was little else to do. Thinking about this whole mess.

San was never far from the top of his thoughts. She would try to rescue him, he thought with a great sadness. She was courageous, but a bit stubborn. She would probably die in the attempt. He prayed silently that it could happen some other way. 

Jiko was also a bit of a concern. He would probably be in a bit of danger now that Ashitaka wasn't there to keep Kuroi and Shiroi off him. He'd probably just go back to Irontown. Then he would tell Lady Eboshi everything. Another person would be drawn into this mess and another person would suffer all because of him.

No, not because of him. Because of Asano. The warlord had taken his blade and bow and subjected him to beatings. He was at fault for this. Ashitaka felt surprisingly little hatred for the man. He would be dealt with in due time, at someone's hand. 

Ashitaka breathed in again and closed his eyes in pain, then feeling a sharp stab of discomfort from his eye. He looked up at the stars and silently though he would not be getting to sleep easily tonight. Eventually, though, he lay down and sleep came to him with quick mercy.

~

Miles away, in the cave at the top of the cliffs, San awoke. For a second, she laid there, Kuroi and Shiroi each on either side of her, asleep, and listened to their breathing. They had eaten deer, that was for sure. In her half asleep haze, San heard Moro breathing a short ways behind her. But mother…

San sat up quickly, her normal ring of metallic noise absent as her earrings were placed along with her moccasins on top of her hide vest. She saw in the dim light filtering in from the root-holes above that it was not Moro, but Kuma Tsume who lay asleep a stone's throw away. San felt her heart drop a little, and looked up out to the sky far above. The moon was high in the sky, and the world was illuminated in ghostly light. She stood as quietly as possible and stepped over Kuroi's sprawled legs. The mossy floor was damp with evening dew as she walked barefoot over to the door of the cave. The forest below was not a mass of green leaves like her own, but instead had branches that were spaced apart, and even from here San could see the forest floor on this clear night.

She momentarily wondered if she should go out without telling her brothers, but she took a step and it was all her body needed. She walked slowly, picking her way quietly along the narrow cliff paths, until she reached the woods below. 

She walked and thought. 

She would become the leader of her tribe tomorrow. She would take on the responsibilities mother had carried, and be expected to lead her brothers into battle and fight as mother had fought. She would have to deal with other gods, invaders of her territory, and those damned humans. She was filling Moro's role, and San didn't feel big enough. Her brothers had always been insistent on protecting her, but now who was going to protect them? She was. It was scary. An important part of her would be born tomorrow, and another part of her would die. She needed someone to talk to- keeping this misery pent up was poisonous, but Ashitaka was asleep behind wooden bars somewhere. 

She finally sat down at the base of a tree older than most of them and simply stared at the stars. She had always felt so small in the universe- like her purpose was never enough to sway the fate of anything. But now she wasn't so sure. 

"You are frightened." Said a reedy, fluid voice next to her, and San jumped.

Sitting perched on a dead log not ten feet right of her was Fukuro, the Owl God. She was certain he hadn't been there a minute ago- she had stepped right over that log before she sat down. She hadn't even heard him arrive, but that was normal. His perfectly round, golden eyes gleamed sharply and stared at her with a peculiar radiance in the moonlight. The rest of his dusky brown body was merely an outline against the trees behind.

"You, San of the wolf tribe, are torn between two great duties. One is that to your tribe. The other is your debt to a close friend. Before you will lie two paths. One will lead to ruin, the other to reunion. Your loyalties to both will be tested, but your choice shall lead to the life or death of those around you." Fukuro blinked, a slow, exaggerated movement with his huge eyes.

"But Lord Fukuro, what does it mean? What will I have to choose?" San said, exasperated and desperate. 

"Do you know what became of that red elk?" Fukuro said. He had completely ignored her. San knew from the ease of his voice that he would not dare breach the topic again. 

"Yakkul?" San said.

"I think it would be best if you were to fetch him. Twice today he has skirted hunting parties. He will not last long in this forest between bears and men." The owl god said as he turned his head around- literally around, San thought uneasily- to gaze at the elk which stood grazing a short distance away.

San stood and bowed to the owl god. "I thank you, Lord Fukuro. My friend would be greatly saddened if I had allowed his companion to be killed."

"You need not thank me- he already has, twice. He is very wise." The owl god replied. San walked past him and over to Yakkul. The elk looked at San as she walked, and let her pet his muzzle and take gentle hold of his reins. San turned to say goodbye to the owl god, but he was already gone. She would see him soon enough, she though, as she instructed Yakkul to head back to her forest and stay there until she came with Ashitaka for him. The elk nodded slowly and gave her a small kiss on the forehead.

"You are very wise indeed, Yakkul…" San said as she watched him go. Unseen and unknown to either of them, Fukuro would follow him all night, to ensure his safe passage. San headed back to the cave and slept deeply, and when she awoke she was unsure if she had dreamed it all if not for the elk hairs on her shirt.    

~

DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever…)

Concerning ownership and character names…

San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.

Characters of my own creation include the following, with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:

Asano – well, I flushed out his personality and physically created him, and you'll be leaning much more about him in future chapters.

Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that. 

Taisho – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taisho means "general (military), leader, admiral". He is the eunuch general of Asano's army.

Kaigan – Means "seashore, coast, seaside, beach". It's a coastal city, hence Kaigan. I thought it sounded city-like.

The gods!

Kuma Tsume – Means "bear claw", and Kuma Tsume is the king of the bears, and you shall see him live up to his name in future chapters. 

Kitsune – "Fox", for those of you out of the loop.

Risu – "Squirrel". Simple and effective.

Inoshishi – "Wild boar". The last of the boar gods.

Neko-Goto – "Cat burglar" or "cat robber". Which he is, of course.

Taka – "Hawk". One of the two bird gods appearing in the story.

Fukuro – "Owl". The sage and often silent god who has told San something very important and very true.

…and that wraps up my first new commitment to this story, part 3. Next is part 4- entitled "Possession".

I'd beg for reviews, but if you made it this far you probably don't hate the fic. Tell me how I'm doing, and more importantly what you don't like and I can improve upon, that's really what reviews are for. Off to work again!


	4. Possession

See bottom of chapter for disclaimer.  
  
~Chapter 4: Possession~  
  
Far, far to the east, further east that Irontown and even further than Ashitaka's clan's home, was something terrible and powerful. Its presence in this land was yet unknown to any god, although surely one would have met it in battle had they known. Its presence was unknown to any ruler, who would surely have saved his people from this terror. And most importantly, its presence was yet unknown to any common person, for this creature was a nightmare of legendary ilk, a bad dream of dry death and sickly decay. The rising sun heralded yet another dreadful day for this place far, far in the east, as it was again on the move.  
  
The very land reviled it. Where it touched, the grass withered and died, roots trying to claw deeper into the ground for safety. In its presence, trees withered and their leaves turned a sickly gray, and they withdrew into their hardwood and sap in hopes that this unspeakable death would not touch them there. Animals knew it was coming a long ways off, and panicked and ran for their lives- better to die exhausted from fleeing than to experience death at the hands of this unnamed horror. The dirt dried and buckled where it stepped, and the air was thick with a smell that was worse than that of death- it was corruption at the very heart of nature. This blight was moving, and it was moving west. West, to greener lands to despoil and a richer feast to bleed dry.  
  
These pastures had too quickly dried and rotted in its presence, the animals sparse and the trees few and far between. It feasted on decay, and the grasses here were not enough to sustain it for longer than a short while, so once again it was on the move. There was a beautiful scent off to the east. A smell of warmth, livestock and people, fires for cooking and fields and forests of abundant crops and game. A beautiful smell. It would devour it and leave no trace of it behind.  
  
The sun rose and this horror left the field, heading toward the last village of the Emishi.  
  
~  
  
This morning, the guards sent to watch Ashitaka and distribute his punishment were in fact the very guards he had spared the other day. They had actually been ranking officers, but now were stripped of their titles and assigned to guard duty in the wake of their humiliation. When Ashitaka recognized them, he felt a deep fear, for these men would surely want revenge for their ridicule. Surprisingly, they were far from malicious. They may have lost their titles and been robbed, but they knew that this fate was preferable to death and that they owed their lives to Ashitaka. While they were assigned and expected to complete his now daily beating, they (keeping an eye out) skipped it, and actually helped to try and treat some of his wounds. One had smuggled in a small bread roll and a dumpling, and Ashitaka was grateful to have these men on his side. He was in need of friends and allies in this place, and these men putting their heads on the line for him were truly courageous and honorable.  
  
It was about two or so hours after the sun was visible over the courtyard walls, when Ashitaka was left alone in the courtyard with his guards on their morning meal break. Asano was apparently confident in his city's security, enough to risk his prisoner's escape- but Ashitaka didn't have the means or aid to do so. If the guards had helped him to escape, or if he had done so without assistance, they would surely be blamed and likely executed. So for now, Ashitaka sat with his back against a rather thick pole, hands folded in his lap, half dozing in the morning sun.  
  
His eyes fluttered. The buzzing of a fly in his ear was keeping him from nodding off. The courtyard was illuminated in the morning light, the dew still on the plants by the east wall. For holding a cage, the courtyard was very well tended.  
  
His eyes fluttered again. This time, there was a shadow blocking his view of the wall. No, a cat. A huge cat. Ashitaka opened his eyes fully and sat up straighter. The cat sat patiently, somewhere about seven feet tall as it sat. It was a solid black, and watched Ashitaka with a somewhat bored expression on its feline face. It's tail twitched bemusedly.  
  
"Good morning." Ashitaka said. This cat would be about the size of a god, and if it could talk...  
  
"Good morning." The cat said after a moment. It said it as though it were agreeing with Ashitaka, in a slick and royal voice. It sounded a bit like one of the elders from his tribe, a man who was technically Ashitaka's second cousin.  
  
"Are you...a god?" Ashitaka asked. There was really no other way of finding out.  
  
The cat seemed to think for a moment before choosing his response. "When I want to be. It is a weighty responsibility, one not to be handled lightly. I have often yearned for escape." He stood and walked around the cage on all four legs. He examined the cage closely. "Escape, as you well know by now, is not something to be taken lightly, young Ashitaka of the Emishi."  
  
"You know my name, cat god, but I do not know yours. I can only assume that you are Neko-Goto, lord of cats and king of thieves."  
  
"Well then," said Neko-Goto, sitting back onto his hind legs and staring down at Ashitaka, "we know more about each other than we think. For example, young Ashitaka, I know that you came here some day and a half ago and freed San of the wolf tribe, the young girl whom you love." The cat god said the last word with a bit of an edge to it. Love, as if such an idea both sickened and interested him, and was both purely natural and a perversion of the worst kind.  
  
"You know much." Ashitaka said, treading carefully. This god was unlike Moro, or Okkoto, or Nago. He was a god of thieves, as well as assassins, spies, and mercenaries. He sat back and observed until it was time for him to make his move. No one could outwit him, no one could predict him. This was a cat that always landed on his feet in any situation, and could never be thrown off.  
  
"Of course. I know much about you, Ashitaka, and I know much about your future. And of how little of it you hold in your hands." He sniffed. He turned and walked over to the courtyard wall, and jumped a good fifteen or twenty feet to sit on the sunlit stone. "Allow me to give you a little advice- she'll break your heart. There can be no relationship between the daughter of a god and the son of humans."  
  
"Wait! Neko-Goto!" Ashitaka said, as loud as he dared. The cat god ignored him and dropped out of sight over the courtyard wall. Ashitaka sat back against the cage wall again. Break his heart? San?  
  
...would she?  
  
~  
  
San stood alone in the middle of a clearing. The morning sun was now high in the eastern sky, and the light shone through the trees. She was dressed again in full battle regalia, which doubled for this purpose of ceremonial dress. Her mask, the half-face clay eyes that were attached to a wolf fur headdress, was pulled down over her eyes. It obstructed her vision very little, as the eyes were the thinnest part of the mask, but was going to become even hotter as the sun continued to rise. She turned her head to look behind her and her earrings clicked against the clay.  
  
Kuma Tsume had instructed her to be here, but where he was she did not know. For that matter, there were no other gods anywhere to be seen. She kept checking behind her and in trees above to see if Fukuro had again arrived unnoticed, but the owl was absent. Her brothers were with Kuma Tsume, for reasons she hadn't been told. So for now, she stood and waited, her hand brushing the hilt of her dagger now and then just to make sure she wasn't caught off guard and unarmed.  
  
This forest was much quieter than her own. There were no Kodama here, probably because there were no trees old enough. The mother-trees of her forest had hundreds of Kodama to each, but the trees here were still young- still children themselves. Mother had told her once of a time long ago, when Kuma Tsume was still young and untempered by time, when he had driven back the humans from this cleared land and the bear tribe had sowed a forest here. It must have been fifty or sixty years ago, and it would still be another hundred years before Kodama would start appearing. San would never live to see it, but Kuma Tsume would. Humans and animals were mortal, their lives dependent on their own bodies. But gods, like Kuma Tsume, depended on something greater- their life force flowed with the life force of the world.  
  
There was a clattering of talons above San and she looked up. Above her, and staring down with a razor gaze was Taka, the hawk god. She gave two thrusts of her thirty-foot wingspan and landed neatly in front of San. She was the size of an ox on the ground, in the air she was twice as large. Her plumage was a very light brown, lighter than normal for her tribe, and each feather was easily a foot long, two or three on the pinion feathers. Her talons were each as long as a pickaxe, her beak was both tool and keen weapon. Taka folded her wings along her body and blinked. She turned her head again and looked at San with her other eye. Another blink. There was a small fluttering of wings again as three other hawks, these as large as men and clearly sentient. One, who was much older than the rest and shook very slightly with his age, stepped forward to stand level with Taka.  
  
"Lady Taka greets you, San of the wolf tribe, and wishes to extend her deep regrets on the death of your mother and patron Moro." Said the old hawk in a croaky voice. It was typical for the gods to have a small escort to announce them and represent the body of their tribe.  
  
"It is good to see you again, Lady Taka. My gratitude for your kind sympathies." San said in response and bowed slightly. It was ceremonial, really. Now Taka herself would speak.  
  
"I am also very glad to see you assume the role of your clan head, San." Taka acknowledged, and bowed back, blinking once again as she did it. Her voice was strong and high, and had a quality to it that was avian- perhaps the speed or measure, San couldn't tell. She just though Taka sounded like a bird did. Just more elegant.  
  
"Is it a position you are ready for, San?" Said another voice behind her, this one a fast, high pitched chatter that would better fit the gossipy ladies of Irontown. San turned slightly, and saw clinging to a tree Risu, the squirrel god. This was a god who did not travel with her tribe, as they were present in virtually every location. She was a vivid, almost obnoxious red, and would never have survived in the wild if she were a normal sized squirrel. Being a god, she could afford to visually announce her presence. Risu was not very tall, even a bit shorter than San, but still was a commanding figure. She moved down from the tree, her nimble fingers gripping into unseen crannies in the bark, and perched at the base on a tangle of roots.  
  
"It is, Lady Risu. It is a position I do accept with a heavy heart, however." San bowed again, and Risu bowed back.  
  
"And here are your brothers. They have grown." Taka said, looking past San. San turned again and there were Kuroi and Shiroi, along with Kuma Tsume, entering the clearing. Kuroi and Shiroi walked over to San and stepped on either side of her. They nodded respectfully to the hawk and squirrel gods. Kuma Tsume had brought with him two of his bears, but the bear lord himself was easily the most impressive god to yet arrive.  
  
"It is good to see you again, Risu and Taka. I trust your regions and tribes are not under any threat?"  
  
"Never, Kuma Tsume. You know our willingness to give and take help when it is needed." Taka said.  
  
"Kitsune sends her regrets that she will be unable to attend. She's dealing with a group of poachers in her forest." Risu chattered.  
  
"Her presence will be missed, but if it is necessary, then so be it." Kuma Tsume said. Risu nodded in agreement in the rapid nod of a squirrel. There was a crash somewhere in the forest and Risu rolled her eyes.  
  
"I'll be amazed if I don't know who that is." She muttered. Kuma Tsume smiled in agreement, revealing those deadly white fangs. San felt she knew as well- it was a sound much like that Okkoto had made on his way to die. It was the sound of a boar god. The bushes of the clearing again parted and forward stepped Inoshishi, the last of the boar lords.  
  
Inoshishi was the smallest of the boar gods, although not by much, and was also the least foolish. It was a sad testament that the two stubborn brothers he had were victims of their own folly. Inoshishi was a black boar, with eyes dark and brooding in his head. His tusks were normal sized for his stature, but seemed strangely large, white against his black body. He grunted and stepped forward into the clearing.  
  
"I have word from Neko-Goto that he will not be arriving until later. He has matters he needed to attend to." He grunted out. His voice was gravelly and harsh, higher than Okkoto's but also quieter. Okkoto's voice would have filled the clearing, Inoshishi's merely made itself known.  
  
"The god of cats always seems to have other business to attend to. His appearances have become few and far between." Said a fifth voice, this time from the trees to the right of Inoshishi. Fukuro had again arrived unnoticed, and was his usual solemn self.  
  
"Then we are all accounted for, with Kitsune and Neko-Goto absent." Kuma Tsume said.  
  
"We are not." Replied Inoshishi. "Where is Moro no Kimi? And Okkotonushi? And Lord Nago?"  
  
"They are dead." Kuma Tsume said flatly.  
  
A stir went around the clearing at these words. Taka blinked several times and rapidly, Fukuro closed his eyes and nodded. Inoshishi allowed his mouth to hang open in shock- both of his brothers were dead and he had never known.  
  
"D-"Inoshishi stammered, unable to complete the word.  
  
"Dead," Repeated Kuma Tsume, "Along with the patron spirit of their forest and, except in Moro's case, their tribes."  
  
Inoshishi let out a terrible cry that shook the clearing and chilled San to the very bone. Shiroi and Kuroi's fur stood on end, and Risu clapped her hands to her ears. Miles away, guards on the walls of Kaigan heard it and only knew that it was an unearthly shriek. The gods and San knew it was a cry of mourning and an oath for vengeance.  
  
The boar god stopped and grunted out a long string of oaths in his own language. San reflexively rubbed her arms- her skin had crawled at the noise of that cry and had tightened as though she was cold. The gods had largely maintained their composure, except for Risu, who was now quickly working to smooth her tail over.  
  
Kuma Tsume reclaimed order in the silence that followed. "All of the clans share this pain, as we all fought alongside our comrades at one time or another. But now the burdens of these tribes must shift to their successors. Inoshishi now bears the mantle of the boar tribe, but he, unlike the wolf tribe's heir, is already a chief."  
  
All the gods in the clearing turned to look at San, and she felt dizzy with the weight of their eyes. She was meeting with the gods, and she felt very small next to each of them.  
  
"San, our Princess Mononoke, must inherit the leadership of the wolf tribe." Kuma Tsume said. San noticed he was the only god who was got meeting her eyes directly. For that matter, neither were her brothers...  
  
"Is she ready, Kuma Tsume? Can she handle the rituals needed to seal her leadership?" Fukuro asked. His voice was now grave with concern.  
  
"She is strong by any standards, Fukuro. You know your part in this."  
  
"Very well," said the owl god, "but it has been a dreary age since these rituals have been performed by any god." Fukuro drifted down from his perch and stood in front of San. "Forgive me, child."  
  
San took a step back. Forgive me? She would be strong enough? What did all this mean? Her pulse quickened as fear flooded her. Would they hurt her in some sort of test? What was going on? San looked quickly towards Kuma Tsume and her brothers, but the bear god was the only one of the three who met her gaze. Fukuro snapped his beak to get her attention, and she turned back to face him.  
  
Then, Fukuro's golden eyes snapped shut once, and when he opened them in the moment following, they were a piercing, midnight black.  
  
Through her yellow-eyed mask, San looked into those eyes for only a split second, sensing that there was something magical about them, before she slumped to the ground, dead. Fukuro, unwavering at having just slain her, blinked again, and this time his eyes were a startling blank white. San's body twitched and jumped, and let out a feral scream. Fukuro blinked again, his eyes returning to their normal golden hue.  
  
San's body leaped and trembled, and finally curled itself into the fetal position and lay shaking.  
  
"Arise." Fukuro said, and took a step back.  
  
San uncurled, and firmly planted her left foot, then her right. Using her hands, she shakily pushed herself back on her heels and steadier herself with her hands. Her eyes were closed behind the mask, and she seemed strangely unbalanced. When she opened them, it was clear to Kuroi and Shiroi, as well as all the gods in the clearing, that it was no longer San staring back at them.  
  
"Stand!" Said Fukuro, louder this time. "Stand now as you once did, proudly and fiercely, Moro of the Wolf Tribe!"  
  
"Silence yourself, Fukuro." Said San, but in a voice that was no longer her own. It was deeper, grating, and clearly embodied the spirit of the late wolf god Moro. "It is hard enough to stand on two legs, but this body of my daughter's is strange."  
  
"So the great Moro walks again on this world for a short time." Murmured Inoshishi. "Yet is there no way for either of my two brothers to return to this plane?" He said, his anger rising.  
  
"You know the rituals of possession can only take a human host of tribal lineage, Inoshishi. Besides, it is a terrible exertion on a human to undergo such a thing. Moro can only remain a short time or San's spirit shall never find it's way back to her body." Kuma Tsume snapped. Time was of the essence here.  
  
Moro crouched there, surrounded by gods she had fought with in her life, now borrowing the body of her adopted daughter for purposes of a temporary resurrection. She felt the blood pounding in her head- it was so strange to feel such a thing, after having no pulse for weeks of afterlife. Her hands clenched the grass, feeling even in those tiny strands of life the much greater pulse of the world. She opened her eyes, seeing the world through those of a god instead of merely a mortal. The world was a blinding array of color, the trees and grass a swaying vibrant bright red, older wood the color of blood- the life in them was radiant. Each leaf reflected the rainbow of light bathing the world from heaven. The gods were each cast in gold, as though they were living statues, proud and immortal. Her sons- her sons!- they were green with their half-mortality, but still gleamed with a dull yellow sheen. And Moro looked at her own body- the green life force that would burn itself out was a beautiful green, a young green that suited one such as her daughter. But as she looked, the green flickered once- it momentarily was stained and streaked with golden color. The body was trying to adapt to Moro's arrival. And while she longed for life again, she would never sacrifice her daughter to gain mortality.  
  
"You...my comrade gods...have called me back to this wonderful...beautiful world. I have missed it, and each of you. But...there is a purpose for my return, and it lies within my daughter." Moro spoke breathing heavily. It was already straining San's body to have this spirit of a god residing in it.  
  
"You must transfer your position as your tribe leader on to your daughter, Moro." Kuma Tsume said.  
  
"It has come to this, has it? My poor San. She does not deserve this burden with all others." Moro said, once again staring at her- San's- own hand.  
  
"She is strong, Moro. She will make a good leader." Taka acknowledged.  
  
"But she is no god." Moro snapped.  
  
All the gods cast nervous glances at each other. That fact was unsettling.  
  
"You all know the prophecies." Moro said. "She has fallen in love with one who is not wolf- and now he lies caged by the warlord who resides in this land. She is too proud to ask your help, but I beg you to aid her. The prophecies command it too. And one of you-"Moro looked around the clearing at this, "has come dangerously close to telling her the truth." Neither Fukuro nor Kuma Tsume showed emotion towards this statement. "She must choose for herself. She will fight, and she may yet die in her path, but as my daughter, she will never fail me. Let her assume the mantle of my tribe. Now send me back, so that she may return to this warm world."  
  
"Rest in peace, Moro no Kimi." Fukuro said as his eyes again flashed black.  
  
"Rest in peace." The gods echoed as the world snapped away from Moro.  
  
~  
  
Death was cold, black, and dry. San knew not how long she had been here, nor where "here" was, she only knew that she was dead. She cried- for she did not want to be dead. She had so much living left to do. She had so much responsibility on her shoulders. But here, at least, there was no more responsibility. No more tears- they dried as soon as they left her eyes. That was strange, she noticed, her mask was gone. But here, there was no protection from death, not even for something like tears. There were no ears for sobs to fall on. She was alone in the inky blackness of her own personal hell.  
  
All she could think about were those eyes- she had been betrayed and killed before she could even say a word. She hadn't been strong enough. And now she was dead.  
  
Something nudged her- something that glowed with a light so bright it was blinding in this darkness. San opened her eyes- it was mother.  
  
"My beautiful daughter..." Moro said. She smiled sadly.  
  
"Mother?" San said, not wanting to believe it and have her heart broken again.  
  
"Do not cry. You will live again soon. But first, we must talk." Moro lay down, and San folded her legs and sat leaning against her. Now that mother was here, she felt strangely calm- safe. It was a feeling she remembered from her childhood, before the horrors of war and death. And in this cold place, mother was so warm.  
  
"Where is this place?" San asked.  
  
"It is nowhere- a place where gods and men go to spend eternity. It is a place your Ashitaka has seen, and that is why he so desperately clings to life."  
  
"It's cold." San said, pulling herself closer to Moro.  
  
"Shh..." Moro said. "...you know, I've missed you."  
  
"I've missed you too, mother...I wish I could stay with you..."  
  
"You have to go back, though, San. Your brothers need you. Your tribe needs you. When you return to the world of the living, you will be leader of our clan in full. You have your own life to live...and share."  
  
"Mother, Ashitaka...he's..."  
  
"Shh, shh, shh...I know everything. You will have the chance to save him. But remember this, daughter- you must always put your duty above everything else. Even your love."  
  
"Mother, what about what Lord Fukuro said?"  
  
Moro sighed. The truth could not be told to her. "That owl's half-crazy, but I can't tell you any more, daughter. Now, you must go."  
  
San stood, looking one last time at her mother. "Will we meet again?"  
  
Moro smiled. "We shall."  
  
San closed her eyes and drifted into what felt like a wonderful sleep.  
  
~  
  
Something nudged her again. San opened her eyes. She was back, back in the clearing, back lying with the circle of gods around her and her brothers protectively at her side. The world, though- something was different. The colors were all wrong. The very world seemed to pulse with a beautiful warm light, and the life force that her mother had so often mentioned was so visible. It was in the trees and grasses, a blinding and beautiful red. She sat and looked around with this wonderful new vision and only then noticed the tears still fresh on her cheeks- she had been crying. No, her mother had been crying. The world slowly faded back to its normal hue as San wiped the tears from her face, further marring her own blood, still dried there as war paint.  
  
"What...what was it?" She asked aloud, looking again at the world through her normal eyes.  
  
"You have seen the world through the perspective of a god, an immortal." Said Fukuro, standing there. San was the very slightest bit afraid of him, as now she knew the full extent his knowledge had. "It is a thing that in time you may yet control and use to your advantage. You will be able to see more than the mortality of a person, you will be able to see where their heart lies."  
  
"It...it was beautiful."  
  
Fukuro snapped his head around- unsettling- to glare over his shoulder. Someone or something had just entered the clearing.  
  
"Again, Neko-Goto has sent you in his stead, Kinjiru? One would think that a god such as he would take more pride in fulfilling his duties." Taka spoke coldly.  
  
"If my father is unable to attend, Lady Taka, does not his son provide adequate representation for his tribe?" Countered a male voice, this time adolescent and steely. "My father sends his regrets that he is unable to meet with the rest of you, and I apologize myself for my lateness. I was unable to cross the river for human soldiers on the move, and was forced to take a detour around them."  
  
San wanted to see this new son of a god, who was as of yet still blocked by Fukuro standing in front of her. She rose to her feet and stepped around Fukuro, expecting to see a god-  
  
But instead she saw a boy.  
  
He was about her age, or Ashitaka's, and stood only an inch or so taller than her. His hair was a fair brown, and ran long down to the middle of his back in an ornately braided tail. His facepaint denoted him as a member of the cat clan, with a bright blue line running the bridge of his nose and three horizontal lines on each cheek, running back to the edges of his face. His eyes were steel gray, bent into a glare. San noticed he was returning her customary icy stare. His outfit was clearly designed for silence and stealth, everything being strapped tightly to his frame. His leggings were of a white hide, the knees studded with hooks for climbing, the pants behind them a deep brown that was scattered with pockets. His shirt was a very deep red tunic, with long sleeves and the forearms bound in white straps. Daggers were held tightly by these bindings, as well as having hilts at right angles with a second blade on them, creating both lethal assassination weapon and climbing aide. At his waist, on one of the many straps that secured every loose inch of cloth to his body, dangled a facemask that was brilliant white clay with two long, triangular blue eyes and no mouth.  
  
"Kinjiru Dorobo Oji, Prince of Thieves, pay homage to the new leader of the wolf tribe, San Mononoke Hime, Princess of Monsters."  
  
Kinjiru bowed, but did not take his eyes of San. His gaze was level, that of an equal, and San wondered.  
  
Who was this boy like her?  
  
~  
  
DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever...)  
  
Concerning ownership and character names...  
  
San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.  
  
Characters of my own creation include the following, with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:  
  
Asano – well, I flushed out his personality and physically created him, and you'll be leaning much more about him in future chapters.  
  
Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that.  
  
Taisho – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taisho means "general (military), leader, admiral". He is the eunuch general of Asano's army.  
  
The gods!  
  
Kuma Tsume – Means "bear claw", and Kuma Tsume is the king of the bears, and you shall see him live up to his name in future chapters. The "action/adventure" this is categorized under gets started now.  
  
Kitsune – "Fox", for those of you out of the loop. Kitsune, as a refresher, is the Fox god, and is generally considered to be a god of magic and war.  
  
Risu – "Squirrel". Simple and effective. Risu is a god of nature and it's perpetuation.  
  
Inoshishi – "Wild boar". The last of the boar gods. Brother of Okkoto and Nago, he is the smallest and least rash of the three.  
  
Neko-Goto – "Cat burglar" or "cat robber". Which he is, of course. He's god of assassins, thieves, and spies. He'll be around.  
  
Taka – "Hawk". One of the two bird gods appearing in the story. She is a god of fierce battle, and is unparalleled in the air.  
  
Fukuro – "Owl". The sage and often silent god who has told San something very important and very true. He is a scholar god, one who fights little but possesses powerful knowledge nonetheless.  
  
Kinjiru- "Forbid", and although technically in the verb form see it as past tense. His full title, Kinjiru Dorobo Oji would be Kinjiru, Prince of Thieves, as San is Princess Mononoke.  
  
...and that's another new chapter down. Now I just have to keep the momentum. I've got big things planned for the plot of this in the future, and you'll probably see some rather startling revelations. Thus ends chapter 4. Chapter five is to be entitled: Betrayal.  
  
...and the obligatory review request is supposed to go here, but if you've read this far, you're either a diehard who has to finish something even if you hate it or you're someone who likes/loves/is indifferent towards the fic. Drop me a line, I need a bit of motivation to stoke my creative muse. 


	5. Kinjiru

See bottom of chapter for disclaimer.  
  
~Chapter 5: Kinjiru~  
  
The decision to incite war was settled later that morning- the next day, the gods would charge into battle against Kaigan and Asano's forces. The reason given by Kuma Tsume was to drive the humans out of his lands, and what better a time than after a new chieftain joins the fray. But San knew what the truth was. She wouldn't have minded if he had come out and said it, but perhaps her love was too expressly forbidden to be mentioned much. Kinjiru, in his calm, effortless manner, had proudly accepted the chance to fight. He hadn't noticed anything wrong with Kuma Tsume's excuse- he seemed focused enough on merely waiting and seeing how things played out. Now and then, San could see by the way he caught her eye that he wanted to talk to her. He was a cat- subtle but definite.  
  
Mid afternoon, San was finally able to find time alone in order to craft a warspear for herself. She had her proper one back at the den, but as it wasn't possible to go and get it before tomorrow's attack, so she would have to make do with what she did have: her knife. Fortunately, as it was double edged, it could serve as an effective spearhead. She searched for some time, dissatisfied with the shorter branches and twiglings that were so common in such a young forest. She needed something of decent size.  
  
She found it at the base of a tree that had been dead for some time; a huge scar streaked down the side, clearly the touch of lightning. That had most likely killed the tree, but there was a wealth of good-sized branches at the base from dead limbs. They were dry, too, and she selected one as big as her forearm and almost as tall as her. She sat back against the tree and began to work.  
  
San used her knife to strip the offshoots and bark off the branch, as well as smoothing it as best she could by cutting off the knots. One end she rounded off to a dull point, the other she split down the branch for about six inches and snapped off half of the split. San then unwound the leather strap on the hilt of her dagger and laid the blade against that end. She rebound the dagger onto the pole as securely as she could, then hefted the spear between her hands to see if it was a good balance. It was.  
  
Just as San had finished inspecting her handiwork, something burst out of the bushes in front of her, and she reflexively stood and raised the spear to a fighting stance. She realized after a brief second it was Kinjiru, who also had a firm grip on his fistknife hilts and was looking as shocked as her. He stood for a second, fists up with his blades in an offensive position before he dropped his hands, put his arms to his side, and bowed.  
  
"My apologies, San of the wolf tribe. I did not know anyone was here. Forgive me for disturbing you." His braid slid over his shoulder and rested across his chest as he stood again. "I shall leave."  
  
"No wait!" San said, dropping the spearpoint but keeping her grip on the pole. "It's fine. I was just...startled. You don't have to go." She wanted to talk to him- find out who he was, what he was like.  
  
"My thanks," Kinjiru said, and he picked the base of a tree about ten feet from San and sat, folding his legs.  
  
San sat back down as well. For all that she wanted to say to him, she was annoyed that she had no way of saying it. She might as well ask him the first question on her mind...  
  
"Have...have you ever...met someone, someone like...us?"  
  
Kinjiru looked at her silently for a moment and dropped his gaze, nervously fiddling with his arm wrappings. "No. I had always thought I was alone in this world. I never knew there was someone else like me. How did you become Moro's child?"  
  
San had long ago resigned herself to having no emotion but hatred for her "parents". "I was only a cub, not yet even able to walk. They were violating my mother's forest. She showed herself, and to try and save their own lives, they threw me at my mother's feet. She pitied me and spared me. She slew them."  
  
Once, when San was about her thirteenth summer, she had gone to see where the bodies of her human parents lay. In their retreat they had tried to flee into one of the small caves. Moro had cornered then and made quick work of each. They had received no proper burial, and San felt they deserved none. She had salvaged what still remained of their possessions, and that was where much of her clothing had come from, including the wolfskin cape. Mother would never have approved had a wolf been killed by a comrade for such a purpose as being worn, but she felt it was a fitting tribute to the fallen wolf that the daughter of a god should wear it. San returned from her reverie, again feeling her old hatred for her human ancestors pound in her head.  
  
"I was raised a wolf, and I am one," San said, almost as a challenge should Kinjiru question her humanity. Kinjiru didn't bite.  
  
"I was also only a kitten when I was taken in by Neko-Goto. He took me from the ruins of my village, which had been pillaged and burned by a war party. I was the only survivor. He raised me; taught me to hunt, hide, to steal. I've always been alone, with Neko-Goto never being around longer than a few days at a time. I have no brothers or sisters."  
  
Kinjiru looked up directly into San's eyes and she realized she had been staring at him. San dropped her gaze embarrassedly. She had something he didn't- an adoptive family. He had been alone virtually his entire life, as soon as he could fend for himself. Both shared the same roots- their own species had damned them to their current lives, and both had thrived.  
  
Kinjiru broke the silence when he said something she hadn't expected.  
  
"Would you like to spar with me?"  
  
San looked back up, surprised. Had she heard right? He was inviting her to playfight, as wolves did? Normally it was an affair of family ties, and rather personal. She had sparred with her brothers many times when they were cubs, but to someone strange...  
  
"Sure."  
  
Kinjiru stood and pulled his mask on, then flipped his braid back over his shoulder. San also rose and pulled her half-mask over her eyes. She flipped the spear up into her hands with her foot, took it in one hand, and bowed to Kinjiru. He did the same. San dropped the spearpoint level with Kinjiru and Kinjiru crouched and crooked his arms in a fighting stance. Cat and wolf circled each other, each waiting for their opponent to make the first move or mistake. San let her instincts flow through her- this was her opponent, her enemy. She would attack, and not wait to be challenged. Such was the way of the wolf.  
  
San dropped the spearpoint down to be level with her knee and dug her feet into the mossy ground, starting a charge. Kinjiru dropped his center of gravity again, leaning with one shoulder forward and drawing back his right arm. About ten feet in front of the cat boy, San slowed herself slightly to get footing, crouched, and leaped at Kinjiru with a howl, spear not aiming for his head to kill as it usually would be but held vertically with the point down so as to be able to block and trip. Kinjiru brought up both blades and grabbed onto the spear shaft with both hands, his arms forcing against San's momentum and his legs pressing for purchase. With neither combatant having use of a blade, it became an odd fight to dodge tripping feet and keep precarious safety from sharp metal.  
  
Kinjiru now forced his way forward, making difficult progress with San fighting for every inch of ground. He focused on pushing with one arm at a time, his wristblades dangerously close to San's facemask, but every time he came near she would jerk the spear shaft to the side, at the same time stepping forward and attempting to hook his leg with hers and trip him. Kinjiru attempted the same tripping tactic to less avail, as San knew the footwork of a close range fight masterfully. This struggle of spear-over- fist fighting continued for several fierce moments, both combatants giving small grunts and yells at each exertion, until finally Kinjiru gained the advantage.  
  
He again pushed forward with his right blade, and as it came close to San's face she again twisted the spear away from her head and moved to step forward. This time, Kinjiru followed the movement, throwing San hard to her left side and letting that step be carried through past its intended point. As San narrowly regained her balance, Kinjiru stepped forward, both blades free, and wrapped one lithe arm around her neck, pulling her into a headlock with the other dagger on his left hand resting behind her left ear. San reflexively let go of the spear, now holding it with only one hand, and gripped Kinjiru's left wrist where his bindings were with her other.  
  
Both stood for a brief second, Kinjiru with the knowledge he had bested San and San with the knowledge that in a real fight she would be dead. Neither spoke for a moment, breathing heavily in the adrenaline filled air. Finally, Kinjiru dared to give a small spoken jab.  
  
"Too fast for you, girl?"  
  
San shouted a cry of vehement protest at being called by a human title and dropped her feet out from under her, putting her full weight on Kinjiru's arm. While she was not exactly heavy, the unexpected movement threw Kinjiru into a snap reflex that caused his to lock his knees to support the weight, and San reached forward with her left leg and hooked her heel around Kinjiru's. She pulled, and he fell forward while she pulled herself backwards. The instant her head was free, she brought the spear up to bear with both hands. Kinjiru, who had managed to break his fall but was still prone, flipped himself over. San thrust the spear against his throat, nicking the flesh and drawing blood- something that signified clearly to Kinjiru that playtime was over.  
  
San was livid. "I'm a wolf! A wolf, not a human! Neither of us is! If that's what you think, that you're a human, I should kill you here and now!" She almost screamed at Kinjiru, her voice keeping that last edge before being a complete shriek that let anyone know she was prepared to kill. She had used it few times, one of which was against Ashitaka. She had meant it then, and had stabbed him because of it, and while he had forgiven her she still had not accepted that she wasn't a wolf.  
  
Kinjiru, behind the impassive blue eyes of his mask, decided to see just how determined she was.  
  
"If you would kill me, prove it now." Kinjiru's feet had come to rest exactly where San stood, and with that challenge he shoved forward hard with both feet against her shins. San couldn't control her fall, which was face first, and she jerked the spear away not an instant before it would have cut through Kinjiru's jugular vein. She loosed her grip on the spear with only one hand and caught herself, landing hard on Kinjiru's chest and knocking the wind out of both of them.  
  
San was shocked by his actions. He was a complete mystery- almost as if he invited the thrill of death. It took San a moment to realize she was actually touching him and she pushed herself away from him with a frantic speed. Again she readied the spear with one arm, point facing him, and backed up on hand and foot to the same tree as before. Kinjiru propped himself up on both arms, and both of them stared at each other from behind their masks with rage uttered only in heavy breaths.  
  
San stood, not daring to break her gaze from Kinjiru, and backed away to the edge of the clearing. Finally, she turned and ran. It was not a retreat, nor was she sparing him defeat. San was leaving both victorious and humiliated, and he was left likewise. Kinjiru sat for a second alone in the clearing and then reached up and wiped the blood off of his neck with his hand. He had made a tactical error in trading trust for learning how San's mind worked. He would have to apologize eventually. She was too unique to let slip away.  
  
~  
  
San ran for at least half a mile, in and out of groves and clearings, cutting through foliage and backtracking over streams, all to leave a trail that would take an age to follow. She finally stopped running and fell to her knees, gasping again for air. The adrenaline that had flooded her in that fight was slipping away, and she was cold with sweat and fear. She pulled back her mask and wiped her eyes and the bridge of her nose. She noticed her skin was stiff as though she was cold- fear had triggered it. Fear at what? Her nearly killing Kinjiru? Something about Ashitaka flashed through her mind- she had stabbed him before, when she was like that. In her rage she wanted to kill him. This time it happened again, and if she hadn't jerked away the spear someone else- a cat clan prince- would be dead. But no...although such a thing was a terrible memory, that wasn't it.  
  
It was...she turned over his actions in her mind. Something she had seen in him had showed her a spitting image of herself. Something she had told Ashitaka.  
  
"I'm not afraid to die..."  
  
Kinjiru had shown he wasn't either. He had almost welcomed the opportunity to prove himself in the face of it; to show that he was unafraid, even if it cost him his life. Had San acted like that? Yes, she realized. She had. And then Ashitaka's voice-  
  
"Don't throw your life away!"  
  
No. She couldn't. She had to keep on living, for Ashitaka. She must keep a level head, even in the fury of battle- such was the way of a leader. Mother would have done so.  
  
"Mononoke Hime," said a stately, reedy voice. San jumped. She knew whom it was, and had been startled by both such an unannounced appearance and the idea that Fukuro was back again. The owl god's unsettling eyes- eyes of death and mystery- were once again fixed on her.  
  
"Lord Fukuro," San replied, turning and bowing, remaining calm as best she could while being on such uneven emotional ground. She noticed she again was holding the spear and her knuckles were white with their grip.  
  
"I wished to speak to you." Fukuro hopped down from a low, thick branch he was perched on. He stood facing San, not more than three spear lengths away. His eyes, again their usual gold, clearly reflected San's face. She stared back at herself with a look of resolved fear. Fukuro was someone she did fear. He was an ally, but was unpredictable and mysterious. She could not trust him as she trusted Kuma Tsume.  
  
"On what matter?" San asked.  
  
"Your eyes," Fukuro said, and his glinted the tiniest bit blue, as if azure dust had been scattered across them and had sunk into that shimmering radiance. "Today you saw with the eyes of a god. If you can see the world through gods' eyes as you see through the eyes of a mortal today, then you may gain understanding of your position that will help you to better keep the harmony of tribe, nature, and council."  
  
"What do I need to know to master this ability, then?" San asked. Part of her wanted to be able to see a world through the eyes of her mother, the other part wished to retain the vision of a familiar world. While it was a beautiful thing to see the world through the eyes of a god, its beauty was dizzying and terrible in its intensity.  
  
"It will come to you in time. Emotion clouds the part of your spirit that lets you see through the eyes of the immortals. You may see best from them as you awake, but as the memories of what you must perform during the day pull you in different directions, you shall lose sight of the vision. Others find that in the face of danger they grow apathetic and cold, and best see then what gods do."  
  
"Others?" San said. "Other what?"  
  
"Humans," Fukuro stated. San's eyes shot wide open. "The rituals of possession have not only been performed as recently as today, you know. In the millennia I have existed as my tribe's chieftain, it has occurred thrice...nay, four times- including you. One male and three females underwent such rituals, although none were nearly as young as you, all came under the same tribal adoption."  
  
Fukuro blinked again and ruffled his feathers. He may have made a mistake- those facts were not tied in immediately with the knowledge of the prophecy. Still, it was pushing it dangerously close. He would leave now, before he could make another miscalculation. Meanwhile, San shook her head, trying to clear her mind so that, out of some fancy, she might be able to use the god-vision there and then. It was futile- she had far too much to dwell upon to try and rid her mind of emotion. Fukuro spread his wings the slightest bit.  
  
"I must go." He said. "I leave you with the knowledge that in time you shall yet harness this ability. It may prove of use to see through our eyes." With that, Fukuro gave a single thrust of his wings and flew into the air, making almost no sound at all. San was left alone again, little better off than before. She had more information, but only more questions instead of answers. She needed to talk to someone, but the one person she did want to talk to was behind bars in the middle of Kaigan. San fiddled with her earring for a moment, again trying hopelessly to clear her thoughts, before she began to walk back to the cliffs of the bear tribe. If nothing else, she was hungry.  
  
~  
  
Seijin Chukoku Ashisutanto was the eldest and most respected advisor of the Warlord Asano, and though bearing the lined face and loose belly of one who has seen many years in the court, was still a sharp mind far past the prime of his life. Today, he was delegating the endless work of managing the entire province Kaigan was located in to several of the younger but more capable assistants. This left him free to attend to a more pressing matter- his warlord's health. Asano was never ill, but his wound- the same he had received from Lady Eboshi- was acting up terribly, and the agony of it had confined him to bed. It didn't help his charge was being extremely uncooperative.  
  
"My lord, if you would just allow me to prepare-"  
  
"Nothing!" Asano hissed through clenched teeth. "I'll take nothing for this! The pain is mine to bear! Leave me at once!"  
  
Asano, as Seijin well knew, was often like this. The wound acted up unpredictably and it was always the same- the warlord was too stubborn to take anything to dull the pain, and Seijin played the fool. For now, he thought, stepping past the massive form of Taisho as he exited, he would wander the courtyards and gardens of Asano's palace, musing about this or that.  
  
He was to accompany the warlord on his next- what Seijin saw as senseless- expedition to oust the Lady Eboshi from her precious nest of Irontown and the iron rich soils beneath. While he could not question his sire's strategy, which was usually flawless, his lord had been acting unusual lately. Perhaps it was his obsession with revenge...such things had been known to drive men mad, and while his previous attempts to remove Lady Eboshi from the picture had been unsuccessful, perhaps he was incapable of seeing that this one would likely fail too. Pain can drive men to terrible things, Seijin mused.  
  
Seijin strode into the main hall and was greeted by a sight he had not seen in the better part of a year, nor had been expecting to see for quite some time.  
  
"This would not be the first time you have again arrived unannounced, unwelcome, and in company of suspicious character, Jiko Bou of the Shisou- Ren. Would you again be here to hire yourself out to kill Lady Eboshi only if my Lord Asano should give a higher bounty than the one she has placed upon his head?" Seijin intoned, grave of voice and solemn of manner.  
  
Indeed, Jiko was not exactly welcome here. His last attempt to get Lady Eboshi killed- by aiding in separating her from Irontown and then stabbing her in the back at an opportune moment- had clearly failed. Worse was that his hunter-killers and men-in-arms, the Karakasa-Ren, had been largely wiped out by the cataclysm in the forest. Jiko Bou, his usual cocky self, stood before a group of forty men, only about a fifth of the surviving groups, now a band fiercely loyal to him, and only him.  
  
"Actually, Seijin, I've come on a matter of a slightly different kind. Is Asano home? I need to speak to him."  
  
Seijin ignored the question. Jiko would get what he wanted, but Seijin would stall. "Impudent as always. You haven't changed a whit since you strode in here last a year ago. I assume your organization hasn't given you reinforcements to recoup your losses?"  
  
"Nope. Had to pick these guys up, dust 'em off, and figure out where to go from there. They're probably the most elite band of assassins, stealth experts, and warriors a man could want. We also picked up a couple of little toys Asano would most like to see. Men, bring forward the case."  
  
A pair of former hunter-killers carried before Seijin an elaborately carved wooden case, long and deep in design. On the top was branded a flourishing seal with a dragon biting its own tail. Jiko gave the case of the box a kick from one of his sandals, and it fell back to reveal no less than a dozen of Lady Eboshi's rifles of the finest design, plundered in the confusion of Irontown. A second, smaller case brought forward by a single porter contained ammunition and gunpowder enough to keep the guns firing for as long a battle as was fought at Irontown against Asano.  
  
"A pretty find," Seijin said, masking the excitement in his voice. Asano would be eager to use Lady Eboshi's weapons against her. "But at what price, Jiko?"  
  
"I'll negotiate that with Asano, if you don't mind. Let's just say it has a little something to do with the boy you've got under lock and key in the courtyard."  
  
"My lord is not feeling himself at the moment. When he becomes available, I shall send for you immediately. Where might I find you?"  
  
"That's the second matter. I understand you have some barracks that aren't exactly in use..."  
  
~  
  
Ashitaka heard the droning voice of Jiko fade away as the stout monk walked with the elderly advisor away from earshot and he leaned back against the wall of the cage. It would seem Jiko was trying to get him out. That was a relief. Still, for now he was caged while the rest of the world went about its business. It wasn't so much that he was suffering greatly from daily beating again ordered upon him by Lord Asano, nor that the low supplies of food and water had weakened his mind as much as his body. The worst part about his confinement was loneliness and boredom. San was somewhere out in the world- had she forgotten about him? Would she break his heart, as that cat god had said? No, Ashitaka told himself. She wouldn't.  
  
He closed his eyes and felt his stomach rumbling and the ache of his shoulders and legs. He wasn't in great shape, he thought. Still...  
  
He looked again at his right hand. There was a sign of hope, if there ever was one. The faint mark where his curse had once been lingered lightly enough that the untrained eye would never be able to spot it. He pulled back on his sleeve and looked at where the curse mark had once been the most prominent- there was still a dark colored scar that wrapped itself several times around his forearm, but it was no longer active. Ashitaka smiled for the first time in what he could remember, and it felt good.  
  
Still, into this happiness crept what Neko-Goto had told him. It was unsettling to Ashitaka, and as he closed his eyes again it took him the longest time to fall into an uneasy sleep.  
  
~  
  
San reunited with her brothers and the god council as Kuma Tsume, Inoshishi, and Taka outlined their plans for the assault on Kaigan. Taka had done some scouting and had determined, with her excellent eyesight, that the wall guards and palace guards changed positions about high noon- thus it would be the best time to attack, when there was still a lax spot in the security of the city. The only real way to get in would be the main gate- Kaigan was impossible to attack from either side effectively. The city itself was located on a very small protrusion into the lake behind it, which connected immediately downriver to the ocean, and upriver flowed for a long distance before reaching the impassible cliffs and waterfalls in the narrows below Lake Irontown. An assault from either side or the rear of the city would be slow and make the bear tribe warriors easy targets for arrows from the city shores. Thus, a frontal assault charging from the forest line only a short two rolling hills away, and some mile or two from the cliffs, would be the best.  
  
San and her brothers, of course, would have their own agenda- rescuing Ashitaka. San already knew where he would be, and after the main gate was bashed in San, Kuroi, and Shiroi would make a run for the palace, stopping only to get rid of anyone in their way. Once Ashitaka was freed, he would join San and her brothers, and they would rejoin the main force. Then the final push would take advantage of the city's location- they would drive the humans into the lake. It would be a massacre fitting to avenge the one the humans had given Inoshishi's boars.  
  
After this war council, in which the plans were approved by the tribal leaders who would be joining the assault- all excluding Risu, who would sit out for being unhelpful in anything other than espionage- San and her brothers left to hunt their evening meal. Kinjiru had not been at the council; he had been strangely absent since San encountered him in the woods that afternoon. San didn't mind. She was still angry at him for being so stupid. Typical of cats.  
  
But now, what Fukuro said was occupying the most of her mind. Other humans, others being adopted much like she, and having undergone the same rituals of possession. She wondered just how long it had been since all this had happened before. Perhaps Kuroi and Shiroi would know. As they left the immediate area of the bear tribe and San climbed onto Kuroi's back, she decided to ask.  
  
"Did you ever know of others who-" San began.  
  
"No," said Kuroi.  
  
"Never," Shiroi agreed. "The first we'd heard of it was from Kuma Tsume. Moro had never mentioned any other children being adopted into tribes. You are the first our tribe has seen, San, and mother never mentioned possession more than once. It's almost unheard of."  
  
"We would have told you if we had known." Kuroi assured.  
  
San's hopes dropped. "I don't blame you." San said, again irritated that there were no answers to the questions she had. "I doubt even mother knew everything. I...saw her."  
  
"In the world of the dead?" Shiroi said. The hair on the back of both of their necks rose visibly.  
  
"Before I woke up. She talked to me. She said I'd see her again."  
  
Neither brother said anything about this. They hadn't died; they wouldn't know what it was like. An eerie silence hung in the air.  
  
"We're going to get Ashitaka tomorrow." San said finally.  
  
"We'll get you in there, don't worry. Remember when we got you into Irontown?" Kuroi grinned.  
  
"I'll say. And a heap of trouble that was." San said, playfully cuffing him on the ear. "You might as well have flung me into the guard." But now she was smiling too. She looked forward to fighting again. She wanted to see Ashitaka.  
  
After several minutes of tracking, Kuroi picked up the scent of deer. The three moved quickly and quietly and after a short half hour of hunting were rewarded with a kill. San ate well, forgetting the previous day's sorrows, because tomorrow would be a day to remember. Princess Mononoke would again fight humans, this time at the head of her tribe.  
  
San finished her meal, wiping her bloodstained hands together in a futile, reflexive effort to try and get the sticky mess ochre off of them. She was used to the smell and sight of blood, but the feeling of it was still unsettling. It connected with too many bad memories: mother's wound, Ashitaka and his, hundreds of dead boars, Lord Okkoto on his way to die...San walked a ways and found one of the many small, wandering streams that trickled through the forest and sat down cross legged. She methodically cleaned the blood from her arms and hands, letting the water rush away with the crimson burden. She then removed her own blood from her face where it still remained, dried and faded from the two days of wear it had gotten. She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes, and listened to the sound of the water, the rustle of the trees in a faint evening breeze, the beauty of a forest in high summer. San had never been meditative- she was always impulsive, fierce tempered, and quick to make an enemy. But here, perhaps, she was in her best of elements. Tomorrow, with the killing, could wait.  
  
San opened her eyes, and she noticed very clearly that the world was strangely colored, as Fukuro had said and as she once had seen. The grass was a reddish hue, like so much of the blood she had washed away. The trees, the leaves- all of it was a scarlet world. San breathed in, the color heightening her usual reflexes, the animal in her responding to the colors, and the world faded back to its normal patterns of greens and browns. Was that what it was to be a god: to not be able to see the blood of your friends and foes from that of the mere world around you? Perhaps that was what had driven on so many gods to fight long after they had spilled all the blood of their tribes over hill and rock.  
  
San picked up her spear and again gently cut her arm, reopening the same shallow wound. She again watched her own essence make its lazy way down to her finger and drop a bead at a time into the stream, which took the burden onwards and away. San stopped the next drop with her hand and gathered the blood from her arm on her fingers, and then traced the three triangles of the wolf clan on her brow and cheeks. The smell of human blood filled her nostrils- she hated the smell. She was wolf, and it was the last true link she had to her roots in humanity. San again stopped the cut and cleaned her hands in the stream, washing away her humanity once again. She would fight as a wolf tomorrow, and nothing more. She would be the Mononoke Hime in battle, terrible, feared, and deadly.  
  
"There will be no forgiveness for the humans tomorrow." San said to herself, thumbing the fine edge of her warspear. "Let them be damned."  
  
Then San laid the spear on her shoulder, pulled the mask over her face, and returned to her brothers. She was ready to fight.  
  
~  
  
DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever...)  
  
Concerning ownership and character names...  
  
San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.  
  
Characters of my own creation include the following, with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:  
  
Asano – well, I flushed out his personality and physically created him, and you'll be leaning much more about him in future chapters.  
  
Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that.  
  
Taisho – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taisho means "general (military), leader, admiral". He is the eunuch general of Asano's army.  
  
Seijin Chukoku Ashisutanto – We'll be hearing of him as Seijin, but his full name becomes "Sage (venerable wise man) council..." I appear to have lost the last word. I'll tell you if I find it. His role is as Asano's chief advisor and councilor.  
  
The gods!  
  
Kuma Tsume – Means "bear claw", and Kuma Tsume is the king of the bears, and you shall see him live up to his name in future chapters. The "action/adventure" this is categorized under gets started now.  
  
Kitsune – "Fox", for those of you out of the loop. Kitsune, as a refresher, is the Fox god, and is generally considered to be a god of magic and war.  
  
Risu – "Squirrel". Simple and effective. Risu is a god of nature and it's perpetuation.  
  
Inoshishi – "Wild boar". The last of the boar gods. Brother of Okkoto and Nago, he is the smallest and least rash of the three.  
  
Neko-Goto – "Cat burglar" or "cat robber". Which he is, of course. He's god of assassins, thieves, and spies. He'll be around.  
  
Taka – "Hawk". One of the two bird gods appearing in the story. She is a god of fierce battle, and is unparalleled in the air.  
  
Fukuro – "Owl". The sage and often silent god who has told San something very important and very true. He is a scholar god, one who fights little but possesses powerful knowledge nonetheless.  
  
Kinjiru- "Forbid", and although technically in the verb form see it as past tense. His full title, Kinjiru Dorobo Oji would be Kinjiru, Prince of Thieves, as San is Princess Mononoke.  
  
...and that's another new chapter down. Now I just have to keep the momentum. I've got big things planned for the plot of this in the future, and you'll probably see some rather startling revelations. Thus ends chapter 4. Chapter five is to be entitled: Kinjiru.  
  
...and the obligatory review request is supposed to go here, but if you've read this far, you're either a diehard who has to finish something even if you hate it or you're someone who likes/loves/is indifferent towards the fic. Drop me a line, I need a bit of motivation to stoke my creative muse. 


	6. Retreat

~Chapter 6: Retreat~

~

Dawn cracked blood red over the horizon, a fitting sun for a day of war. The city of Kaigan, its people unaware of what the sunrise would bring, awoke and went about their lives as they would any other late summer day. Inside the palace, the Karakasa-Ren opportunely  coerced a breakfast from the kitchens, but Lord Asano would not remain confined to his bed while he had guests. He felt they deserved "special" attention.

"My lord, please return to bed! You need your rest!" Seijin pleaded with his sire, attempting to slow his inevitable march to expel Jiko Bou from his house.

"I am well again, Seijin. I feel like the new day has greeted me with fitting strength for battle." Indeed, Asano felt in fine form. No longer racked by pain and suffering, he strode around his chambers with a fierce air about him. "Tell me again about these rifles Jiko has brought with him."

"My lord, they are twelve of Lady Eboshi's finest firearms, with ammunition and powder to disperse a small army. They would be a perfect way to fight fire with fire."

"I intend to, Seijin. Eboshi should finally be at the receiving end of her own iron." Asano unconsciously brushed his hand against the wound that only yesterday had again been reminding him of that cold-hearted harlot.

"My lord, I beg of you-" Seijin again entreated, but was cut off.

"If, Seijin, you doubt my health, should I prove it to you by delivering that Emishi boy's beating personally?" 

Seijin blinked, bowed and apologized. "Forgive me, my lord. It is merely the concern of an elderly advisor speaking, not that of a military tactician."

Asano turned and strode through the halls of his palace. He would give Jiko a welcome to remember- through pain, if needed. Jiko was intelligent. He knew he couldn't come crawling back to Asano with no good news and expect to get away unscathed, so he made a little detour through the smith's shops in Irontown. When bringing bad news, soften the blow by bearing gifts. Simple, like Jiko. 

Asano was still greatly irritated at Jiko. The monk had been unable to backstab Eboshi when he had the perfect opportunity. He would deal with him accordingly. As he passed through the main hall of his palace, he removed the sword from his great-grandsire's Hatakeyama dedication ceremonial armor, brandished it, and continued on.

Upon entering the main hall, Asano strode over to his throne, and stood in front of it, surveying the forty-odd Karakasa soldiers who stood in neat rank and file. Jiko, of course, was again at their head. Asano sat, the katana's pommel resting in one fist with his other hand on top of it, the tip gently pressing the floor.

Jiko bowed. "It's good to see you feeling well, Lord Asano."

"It's good to be back to my old self, Jiko. We have much to talk about." Asano said, a smile curving the very end of his mouth.

"Your business or mine?" Jiko said, cocky as usual.

"Dismiss your men." Asano said. The Karakasa-ren filtered out neatly with a single gesture from Jiko's hand. When they had left, Asano started speaking. "I first want to know why exactly Lady Eboshi is still alive and you failed to claim the head of the Forest Spirit after I gave you explicit orders not to return until you had one of their heads in that iron strongbox."

"I'd say it was a couple of unforeseen difficulties. After all, I certainly didn't expect to get attacked by giant waves of life-sucking ooze after Ebo…_I_ had taken out the Forest Spirit. I planned to knife her in the back the first chance I got-"

"Knowing you, I'd have thought you might use one of your darts."

"-but she got away at the price of an arm."

"And now you come back with neither the forest spirit nor Eboshi's head. Do you realize the hell I'm going to pay when the emperor gets wind of this? Or should I cut off your head as a  substitute?" Asano now stood, his anger catching him, and brandished the katana.

"My lord." Seijin intoned from the entrance to the hall.

"Do you mind, Seijin? I'm a bit busy."

"You have a visitor, my lord." Seijin said, bowing aside to reveal Shirei Chokan, admiral of the emperor's navy. Chokan was a middle aged, very slight general, who moved stiffly in his armor with his helmet under one arm.

"Ah! Chokan!" Asano said, smiling and placing the katana across his throne. He turned to walk over to the admiral. "Most excellent to see you again. Have you only just arrived?"

"Yes, sir. The emperor sends his greetings and wishes your presence at the court immediately."

"Immediately? What is the meaning of this, Chokan? You and the emperor both know I'm still leaving business ends untied here." Asano said, still smiling but showing his true colors with the steel in his voice.

"The emperor requires your presence for…purposes of guidance."

"You mean he wants to reprimand me." Asano sneered. Jiko smiled, knowing just how the tables had been turned. "Very well. Chokan, I hope you will enjoy the hospitality of my house. Seijin, see to it that our guest is treated with the highest respect we can provide."

"Yes, my lord. Admiral, if you would please follow me…" Seijin bowed to Asano and led the seaman through the palace halls.

Once Chokan was out of sight, Asano disgustedly threw the katana across the room, where it clattered across the floor until it stopped at the foot of the armor, and slumped in his throne. 

"Now, back to business, eh?" Jiko said, smiling unabashedly.

"Get out of my sight, Jiko."

"Now, I know what you're thinking- the emperor's going to have your head for failure. And although I am quite pleased with the irony of the situation, I feel obligated to help."

"_Now, Jiko_."

"So, I'll make you a deal- here's all I want: you free the boy, and I'll make sure that your punishment is lifted. All I ask in return is that I get to kill you."

Asano sat in silence. He really hadn't expected something quite that dramatic from Jiko, but right then, occupied in finding a way out of his current plight, Asano was unable to dismiss it. The monk continued, glad he now had his attention.

"Sounds like a bit of a one-sided deal, right? Well, here's where it works out. Eboshi hired me to kill you, but she doesn't want your head- she wants your sword. Your _real_ sword. The boy's freedom is just a personal favor I owe him. End result: Eboshi thinks you're dead, I'm on her side, and all's well. Then, when it becomes convenient for you, we strike and take Irontown when she doesn't have a clue."

"So you're offering me time to stall and rally support?"

"All for you loaning a weapon to me. I'll make sure it's not harmed."

Asano mulled it over in his mind. Time was valuable right now- very valuable. If he could make Eboshi think she was safe, she wouldn't actively be hoarding arms. He could take his licks and then muster support from a few old friends and the Shisou-Ren. And then…Irontown, and Eboshi, would be his at last. He did see a light problem in the plan- Jiko himself.

"How do I know you'll do as I say, Jiko?"

"I was hoping you'd ask that. The Shisou-Ren have already planned this out- here's the official document to prove it. Just got it this morning. My people act faster than any fleet can sail." Jiko drew from his robes a scroll, tightly bound and stamped. Asano leaned forward and took it, read the seal of the Shisou-Ren, and broke the wax. It was an elegantly written document, signed and stamped by two of the half-dozen unnamed masters who ran the cult.  Asano looked back. He smiled again, but it bore no warmth- only cruel passion for the events to come.

"You've done me well, Jiko. Tomorrow morning, you depart, and you shall take the boy and the sword. You and your men are welcome here, for once. You may go."

"Yes, Lord Asano." Jiko bowed very low, but when he straightened up he was grinning widely. "A pleasure doing business with you."

~

It was a mostly ordinary day, thought the wall-guard as he stood waiting to be relieved. No one of great importance entering or leaving the gates of Kaigan since the other day. The weather had been fair, but a bit muggy- it would probably rain this evening. He had heard from other passing soldiers and errand-boys that there had been a small fleet arriving in the harbor this morning. The emperor's men, or some such rubbish.

The guard heard his name called and turned to his relief, who was just arriving after having climbed the ladders to get up onto the walkway. The guard stretched and walked over to the ladder, testing the top rung with one foot. His second step, however, missed the intended rung, and he fell backward. The fall would have killed him had he not been hit in midair by Taka.

The hawk god took him out in a full attack dive, her talons burying themselves completely in the man's chest, and her momentum carrying him a full city block before he was dropped off onto a roof. His partner watched incredulously at the sight until shock was replaced by panic and he began to frantically drum on the alarm. Tobira and his team of doormen, sitting below, slowly and unassumingly started the long process of pushing the gates closed. Deeper within the city, the sound of the alarm roused the few remaining soldiers of Asano's guard to alert stations, most halfway between changing posts. 

At the distant edge of the forest, the clamor of the alarm was the signal to begin the attack. Kuma Tsume and Inoshishi strode side by side out of the foliage, both gods of war that were terrible for any human to look upon. With measured elegance on Kuma Tsume's part and ferocity on Inoshishi's, the two begin a slow advance towards the wall of the city. It was a short distance, but a charge would tire the small force they had. The pace would remain slow until the conflict started in earnest at the gates.

It was almost painfully slow for the wolf tribe. San understood the need to pace the assault, but as Kuroi growled and impatiently pawed the ground at the speed of the advance, the anxiety surrounding the assault was clear. The combatants weren't nervous- they were eager. Any excuse for the wolf tribe to sink fangs into men was a welcome one. 

The tribes crested the first hill and broke into a trot, with bears shambling quickly and the wolves moving at a leisurely lope, still ready for more. Kinjiru, who was being carried by Shiroi ("only for the charge- no longer" the wolf had snarled) was not having an easy time riding wolfback, but was managing nonetheless. The difficulty was that with his wristblades, the cat boy had a difficult time getting a grip on anything solid. He was managing with his legs and a feline sense of balance, but was far from the graceful form San made riding into battle. At the top of the city wall, the alarm fell silent as Taka made a second pass and took out the guard there. His body was dropped unmercifully before the gates, and their progress shut ceased as the doormen investigated what the noise had been.

The crest of the second hill signaled an all out run. Kuma Tsume and Inoshishi broke away from their tribes, and the wolf brothers moved forward alongside to flank them. The bear and boar god were going to crack the gates of Kaigan open like a nutshell. From the other side of the gate, Tobira the doorkeeper only then realized the arrival of these rampaging gods- and he shouted furious commands to close the still half open doors. It was nearly imperceptible, but Kuma Tsume smiled a fanged grin.

The gates were still a couple of feet open when Kuma Tsume and Inoshishi hit them, but even that small distance was enough. The artful woodwork of the door had been designed, unlike Irontown's crude but effective gate, for ease of motion instead of defense. The lightness of the doors- only one or two hands thick- was their undoing. Kuma Tsume broke the bottom half of the left side door off, leaving the top half swaying crazily as the broken piece was used by the bear god to shove aside the men there and clear a path for his tribe. Inoshishi hit the door with a thunderous slam and it ripped cleanly away from the gate. Unimpeded by it's weight, the boar god continued a charge, crushing a score of men in his path, still carrying the gate as Kuroi and Shiroi streaked past him. Kinjiru pushed himself off Shiroi's back to join the fight at the gates, San and her brothers continued on. Unchecked by soldiers, farmers, and townsfolk, San kept her spear close to her side, ready to use it on a certain warlord and his bodyguard. 

~

Asano wasn't sure which concerned him more- the tiny noise of the alarm being raised at the gates or the sudden silence after the alarm stopped mid-beat. The warlord had summoned his advisors to see if there had been any report or arrival that could possibly have caused some sudden panic. They could determine none. Jiko and Chokan stood in on the meeting, and both adamantly refused that they had anything to do with the chaos.

One of the soldiers who had been changing shifts arrived breathless with the story. A full assault force of the gods of the forest, he said. Wolves, bears, boars, birds- the advisors murmured and shifted nervously. Jiko smiled and leaned in next to one of his Karakasa escorts, and whispered something that caused the hooded soldier to leave the room.

"If there is going to be a battle here then we are sorely unprepared, my lord." Seijin said. "If they gods have brought the battle to us, then we have been caught off guard. Our troops are few, we are unprepared-"

"If I may offer, Lord Asano- ?" Jiko interrupted. Seijin glared scathingly at him. "I think a retreat would be the best outlook from this monk's point of view."

Asano was intrigued. "How do you propose, Jiko? In case you haven't noticed, my city is backed on water by three sides, and the fourth would walk right through those beasts."

"If Admiral Chokan has his ships ready to depart yet-" Jiko glanced at Chokan and the admiral nodded his agreement- "then we could salvage your army, advisors, and court on the ships. Bears can swim, but they can't outrun manmade vessels. I volunteer to personally cover your withdraw." Jiko snapped his fingers for effect as the rifle-armed Karakasa moved silently through the entrance to the hall.

"My lord, what about the civilians? We can't just leave them to die!" Seijin spoke, outraged at the monk's indifference.

"This is a fishing city, Seijin. The majority will be able to fend for themselves." Asano dismissed. "Chokan, have your ships ready to depart at a moment's notice. Seijin, make sure all of my court are prepared to go. Jiko…let's see just how well these rifles of Eboshi's work."

~

San was slightly lost and more than slightly frustrated. Damned human cities- you could hardly tell one street from another. The houses were the same, the dirt roads were the same- and the wall her brothers were currently circling to try and find an entrance looked the same as it had for the past two minutes.. At least in the woods you could use smell to guide you- here there was nothing but the stink of cattle, men, and fish.

"It's no use- it'll be faster if we split up." Shiroi growled as he slowed to run alongside his brother.

"Fine- I'll be on the building tops. If you find him or need help, just call. I'll be able to hear you." San instructed.

"No need for that. We can take care of ourselves." Kuroi said.

San pushed herself up into a standing position and leaped from Kuroi's back onto the palace wall to her side. It was a bit of a stretch, but San got an arm over the rounded log point and pulled herself up. The wall was mostly just a visual barrier- only about a foot wide, with a straight drop for some fifteen feet on the other side. San could deal with that- the lack of a walkway wouldn't hinder her much. San used the new height to try and see where exactly Ashitaka had been, but to little avail. The grounds were large and he might be on the other side of the building. 

A sharp whistle told San to drop immediately- she did, crouching in place. Some five feet behind her the wood exploded and splintered, showering her with bits of debris. San knew the sound and result- it was one of the guns, the same kind Eboshi used in Irontown. But could that cold-souled human really be here? San didn't take the time to think- she was a target now, and she knew from experience that a moving target was always the hardest to hit.

As she dashed forward along the uneven and crooked outer wall of the palace, San raised her eyes up to the palace's elegantly sloping roof and saw that at a second floor balcony were stationed a pair of riflemen. There was another muzzle flash and San looked forward in time to see the wood ahead of her explode. With no time to stop, she raised her arms to cover her lower face and felt splinters of wood slice her skin and bounce off her mask. She jumped over the divot in the wall and kept running, moving out of the sight and range of the riflemen as the wall turned.

Now San was on a different side of the palace, and could see where, in the distance, Kuma Tsume and Inoshishi stood out like islands against a flood of dying soldiers and fleeing civilians. Aside from his shining black body painted red by blood and tan by mud paint, Inoshishi resembled his eldest brother. He had now rid himself of the door and was using hoof and tusk to charge groups of soldiers. Kuma Tsume was still a terrible sight to see from this distance- his head was intricately braided in a mane of leaves, his teeth and claws crimson. She again looked inside the palace walls, a deathly still garden rushing by as San again turned with the wall, her leather moccasins digging for purchase in the weathered wood.

The next courtyard was the one she was looking for; the cage in the middle was a sight she was more used to recognizing from the inside, but there was no mistaking the form in it. San turned again, planting her foot and turning her momentum inward, and taking the long drop to the courtyard below. She hit the ground and rolled, her earrings ringing distinctively. She stopped in a crouch and slowly stood.

Ashitaka turned at the sound and scarcely believed his eyes. There she was- she had come to rescue him. Even in full war gear and her face hidden behind a mask, she was still a beautiful sight for longing eyes.

"San?" Ashitaka whispered, his disbelief apparent.

 "Ashitaka." San replied, not sure if she should believe the reunion either. She pushed the mask back onto her forehead. "Ashitaka!" San said, still quietly but with a definite happiness in it.

San walked over to the cage and Ashitaka stood to walk to the bars. San passed her arms through the slats and Ashitaka held her hands. He looked down and noticed the cuts on her forearms from the shrapnel, still fresh and sticky with blood. Like most cuts, they caused more blood than pain.

"San, you're hurt." He said, wincing the tiniest bit as he felt the cut on his back rub the fabric of his shirt. San looked him over in return.

"You should worry about yourself more." She remarked, her eyes tracing the cut on his brow. "Let's get you out of here."

"Why…how?" Ashitaka asked as San walked over to the door of the cage and began to saw through the stiff seaman's knots holding the door closed.

"Kuma Tsume and his tribe have launched an attack on this city. My brothers and I wanted to find you." San left out the fact that by sundown there would be no human alive in the city, and Ashitaka would have befallen the same fate had he not been found.

"Kuma Tsume?"

"He's the bear god." San said as she cut through the first knot and the door moved slightly. "We've had a council of the gods and I've…I'm chief of my tribe now, Ashitaka." San stopped and looked at him. Ashitaka stared blankly back. He didn't quite know what that entailed.

San had expected him to say something- anything- but now she realized maybe he didn't have any more experience leading than she did. She went back to her work with the knots- it would be a lot easier if she had a dagger instead of a spear, but it would take too long to undo and redo the bindings to convert her weapon.

"I need to talk to you, Ashitaka. There's been a lot of talk with the gods, things I don't understand. Things about you and me and my tribe. And- aah!" San fell forward along with the gate as the second knot gave way. Ashitaka caught her from falling flat on the courtyard floor and pulled her up. 

"Let's get out of here first. My things are in the main hall." Ashitaka gestured with his eyes past San and into the shadows inside the palace.

"Right." San nodded. There would be plenty of time to talk later. She brought her spear back up to her side as the two ran towards the palace. Inside, San noted a particular putrid stench- something that smelled like decay. Humans were filthy creatures, but this lair was especially noxious. Ashitaka seemed not to notice the smell as he walked over to the table and picked up his sword. He rolled it once in his hand, and then returned it to the sheath that was placed next to it.

"I'd put that down if I were you, boy." Said a voice from across the room. There stood Asano, dressed in full battle regalia and wielding a beautifully crafted war katana. His armor was a glittering black, giving him the appearance and aura of something unearthly.

San turned and felt her emotions flow loose in her blood. This was the man who had started all this- he had torn her from her home, subjected her to imprisonment, beaten her and Ashitaka… San let the wolf in her take control. She pulled the mask down over her eyes and dropped the warspear to a challenging stance.

Behind Asano, Taisho loomed forward with a step, as if to interpose himself between his master and the wolf girl. Asano made a gesture with his hand that stopped the bodyguard and hissed from clenched teeth:

"You take the boy. See that he doesn't escape."

Asano strode forward, raising the katana to fight with San, feeling the familiar tension of wielding his own weapon return to his arms, and feeling the wound across his stomach throb in time with the blood in his head.

"Come on, little girl. I've killed many lords and generals in my time, but never a little savage brat. Let's see if you provide me more sport than your lover."

San growled and dashed forward, Asano knew already that her charge was a bluff- she didn't lean into it nor tense her body as if she was going to hit him full force. He swung his katana and she jumped. Asano sidestepped her drop, again lashing out on the backstroke and impacting her spear shaft. The wood took a solid hit but didn't snap, and San wrenched it free as she regained her footing. Asano's katana whistled as he cleaved the air, coming close every time to drawing first blood but San kept an inch or two ahead of him. San was making sure he had as difficult a time with it- his armor was heavy and cumbersome, and the protection it afforded would still be of little use should San drive her blade in a chink. She didn't parry, instead relying on her reflexes to avoid harm. Instead, she threw herself towards scoring a hit on any exposed areas- the chinks in the armor that lay between plates and the gap at the underarm. Asano smiled as he continued to use his reach and control on his weapon to full advantage.

Taisho, meanwhile, moved to engage the Emishi prince. Ashitaka would gladly have preferred to aid San, but the massive bodyguard was not going to let him move away. Ashitaka removed his sword from the sheath again, placing the sheath neatly on the table and turning to face his opponent, who stood confidently smiling through an array of broken and disjointed teeth. Ashitaka stared Taisho in the eye and slightly intoned his head in ritualistic formalities. Taisho responded by taking a large stride forward and coming down with a sweeping blow that should have split the prince's head in half. Ashitaka crouched and brought his blade up to intercept only an instant before he would have been slain, his bruised arms screaming complaint under the force of the assault. Ashitaka stood up, using his legs to drive the blade off, and then parried another sweep from the side. Ashitaka responded with a pair of his own blows, which Taisho intercepted with adeptly trained speed. The barbarian prince began a slow path back and around, attempting to get somewhat closer to where San was dealing with Asano.

The warlord's fight with San had reached a pitched frenzy. Neither combatant had been able to force the other into submission, or even draw blood. Her lack of an advantage, real or symbolic, was maddening to San. They were evenly matched. San's wild-honed reflexes were her advantage over Asano's battle training sword mastery, but the warlord's armor and the reach of his blade were forcing San into a defensive position, where she fought worst. Asano backstepped to avoid another one of the wolf girl's short jabs and returned with a wide, arcing blow that lodged his katana in the same crack in the spear. He twisted his sword into the crack and the blade of the spear snapped free from the shaft, leaving San holding little more than a large stick. She dropped it and threw herself to the side as Asano's blade shaved past her and bit into the floorboards with a resounding crack. The warlord placed his foot on the dropped spearhead and shoved it behind him across the room in a clattering slide, to where it came to rest at the foot of his throne. San backed away and moved towards Ashitaka. Asano stalked across the room, after her, ready to prevent the wolf girl from retrieving her blade. 

Ashitaka had his back facing Asano and San, and was currently engaged in a deadlock blade fight with the bigger, heavier bodyguard. San saw an opening: Ashitaka's bow still lay unharmed, albeit unstringed, on the table. She couldn't use it, but she could use Ashitaka's sword. When she had used it before, under rather dire circumstances, she had been impressed by the balance of the weapon. If she could get time to do the switch off-

Asano's impending footsteps on the wood behind her made up her mind. San threw herself between the two stalled combatants and through Taisho's open legs. The bodyguard, leaning with all his weight into the shoving contest, realized too late that his center of gravity was too far forward. San stopped herself flat on her back and braced her legs to shove.

"Ashitaka! Move!" She shouted from behind Taisho. Ashitaka understood, and threw himself to the side, dropping his blade and letting Taisho push through nothing but air. The bodyguard stepped forward to regain his balance as San gave a very hard two-legged kick to his hindquarters. The massive general toppled forward, his weight and gravity pulling him into a near charge onto Asano, who found himself too encumbered by armor to do anything other than raise his blade. His bodyguard reacted too late to avoid being cut open by his master, but he managed to raise his own weapon in time to block everything except a slice across his left shoulder. 

San pointed to the table. "Your bow!" She yelled, rolling backwards and then pushing herself into a low run with her arms towards Ashitaka's sword, still spinning on the floor. She grabbed the handle and rose into a standing position, both hands firmly in control of her new weapon. 

"Right!" Ashitaka reacted, moving towards the table and stringing his weapon in one well-practiced maneuver. He didn't bother picking up his quiver, he merely pulled an arrow from where it lay on the table and nocked it, aiming for the armored figure that was Asano. The warlord stepped forward over Taisho, who was kneeling on the floor in pain, towards San. 

"Clever, whelp. But it's not good enough!" Ashitaka loosed a first arrow, aiming to hit Asano's helmet, but the warlord reacted with imperturbable agility and deflected it so that it slid across the floor towards the doorway at the far end of the room, past Asano's throne.

It stopped at the base of Jiko Bou's wooden sandals. The Shisou monk was accompanied by four of his riflemen who had withdrawn from the second floor balcony as word had reached them that the military and court had been completely evacuated. The scene he was greeted with in the main hall wasn't what he had expected. He knew Ashitaka would probably be freed, since his riflemen had recognized the wolf girl as the one they fired on, but he hadn't predicted the two of them would be engaged in a mortal battle with Asano. 

"Well…" he muttered. "From the looks of it, they're winning."

"What are your orders, master Jiko?" One of the masked riflemen asked. 

"Well boys, _our_ orders are to carry through as planned: assassinate Asano, what we came here to do in the first place. Leave this one to me, though. It's only fitting I get the final betrayal."

Jiko removed the head from his karakasa and fished into a small pouch he had at his waist. He removed a single dart and a very small and impossibly thin iron vial tightly bound in paper. The vial was only as wide as the dart's needle, a custom made poison carrier. It was marked with a symbol nearly unreadable with wear, but the Karakasa troops took a step backward at the very sight of it.

"Sir…that's…" Whispered one of the soldiers, not believing what the vial could actually be.

"Correct." Jiko said, confirming their fears. "Shisou doku. Master's poison. I got this at a great cost, let me tell you." 

Shisou doku was the poison used by the unnamed masters of the Shisou-ren. Its origin was a mystery, but the properties of the poison were legendary- the stuff whispered between initiates and around tables of scarred veterans. Shisou doku was paralytic- it would cripple and kill it's target by nervous shutdown, usually asphyxiation or suffocation. If it only got the skin of the intended target, it would still work inwards and deaden the flesh and surface tissue, digging towards vital organs. For such a contact as that, it would often take days of misery to finally die after it killed you after reaching heart, lungs, or brain. If the dart broke the skin, the poison would travel much more rapidly- it could kill in seconds with a blow to the skull, minutes with one to the torso. Just long enough to let you know who just murdered you.

Jiko smiled. He flipped the dart around and held it above the vial, point down. With one swift motion he punctured the paper and coated the dart with the poison. He removed it, being very careful not to let it touch any part of his skin. 

Jiko closed one eye and sighted down the length of his blowgun. It would only take one shot, but to be safe, he'd make sure to drop Asano with a hit to a vital area. Jiko stepped to the side of the door to get a clean shot around the throne. There- he could see a small break of chain mail in the plating, right at the back of the underarm. Asano had stepped forward and was fighting San with arcing blows. And every time he followed through on a swing, that chain mail gap became visible. Jiko drew in a long, slow breath and waited for the shot.

Ashitaka, looking across the room, noticed Jiko for the first time after he stepped into view beyond the throne. There was the resounding clash of metal as San and Asano met again in the center of the room. Jiko was going to fire on one of the two combatants- would that bastard of a monk try and extract his revenge on San for her interference in the capture of the forest spirit's head, and make it look like a favor to his employer?

Ashitaka pulled an arrow from his quiver with desperate speed and sighted at Jiko. If he was right, he might only have an instant to stop him. Ashitaka sighted for the middle of the blowgun and fired.

One of the Karakasa soldiers, seeing Ashitaka draw back, uttered a cry of warning and stepped forward in front of Jiko, taking the arrow full in the chest. He staggered sideways before slumping backwards and onto Jiko, who was knocked to the floor and had the air pressed out of him forcefully. He would miss the assassination attempt, damn it all! That Emishi boy had bungled things horribly!

The dart flew long and low, nicked the floor, and bounced up, just about calf level with the two combatants. The dart coincided with Asano's backstep and San's advance into his retreat.

The dart grazed the back of San's calf muscle.

San was caught off guard- distracted by the sudden searing pain in her lower leg. She barely caught Asano's next blow and was in a very ill stance to parry a third. The searing pain in the back of her leg faded rapidly, but she didn't know what that sudden loss of feeling foretold.

Ashitaka was mortified- the words of that one Irontown man came back to him- "_those darts are poisoned!"_ He didn't know how deep or shallow the cut on San's leg was, but he knew that he had just inadvertently poisoned the girl he loved. He didn't resist the burly arm wrapping around his neck until he was half suffocating under its grasp.

Jiko was pulled off the floor by a pair of his Karakasa riflemen, until halfway into a standing position they dropped him. He hit the floor with a grunt and was about to complain about it when he felt their bodies slump on top of his. The sound of a third body hitting the floor and the gurgle of blood was followed by a rough hand on the back of his robe hauling him up and a bloodstained blade being pressed against his throat. Kinjiru had arrived unnoticed, although that would change.           

"Call them off!" The cat boy whispered into Jiko's ear. "Or you'll find yourself joining your men in hell!"

Jiko was goaded into complying with a nudge of the blade. He cleared his throat delicately and called out in a firm, grabbing voice.

"Lord Asano!"

"If you don't mind, Jiko!" Asano said, driving San backwards into the table and pinning her on top of it, one hand clutched on her wrist and holding her down with forearm and elbow, the other holding the blade under the right eyehole of her mask and tracing the edge of it.

Jiko sniffed. This was a hostage situation, and his life was in the balance. Jiko had always been good at saving his own hide, but he sorely trusted anyone else to do it.

"I could use a little help here, my lord!" Asano turned his eye to look at Jiko. He assessed the situation- some strange boy, wearing a mask not dissimilar from the wolf girl's, with a pair of curious weapons strapped to his arms. Asano would have to bargain- Jiko _was_ valuable to him, enough that he would risk letting this little girl free.

"Taisho!" Asano shouted.

"Yes, my lord?"

"You have the boy?"

"Yes, sir." The general said, Ashitaka struggling for air behind his arm. San let out a small cry of defeat and stopped writhing under Asano's forceful pin. She couldn't see out from behind the mask, but if that was true…

Asano smiled. Excellent- she wouldn't fight as long as he held her lover's life over her head. Now he could negotiate with relative ease- it all depended on what the assassin boy wanted.

"All right. You there! Behind the monk! What's your price on his head?"

"What's he worth to you?" Kinjiru called, gauging himself the price of this obviously treacherous but apparently valuable prize he had in his clutch. "Let the wolf go! She leaves with me unharmed. Then you can have this fat devil back."

"And the boy?" Asano smiled. Excellent- this new boy was no savior, only an ally to one of these lovers.

"Do as you please. I harbor only hatred for your kind."

San struggled under Asano's grip. "Kinjiru!" She shouted.

"San!" Ashitaka struggled to say from under Taisho's arm. "Just go! I'll be fine!" 

San turned her head and looked at Ashitaka through her mask. Had it only been minutes ago they had been able to touch each other? Was he still real? San visibly lost hope. Now she would be separated from him again. 

"Let her go." Kinjiru said, urging Jiko forward with his knee.

"Drop the sword, girl." Asano said. San let her grip slacken and the sword clatter off the table and onto the floor. Asano roughly shoved her away from the table and across the room, where she lost her balance and fell backwards, landing hard on her wrists and rear end. She was still looking at Ashitaka, staring back at her from behind his bodyguard's arm. Asano cared little about their relationship- the boy was the only one of value to him- he was the key to Eboshi.

Kinjiru guided Jiko carefully across the room, stopping at the base of Asano's throne to place a foot on San's detached knife, still bound to the fractured end of the spear shaft, and shoved it across the room to stop near her. San absentmindedly picked it up, but as she stood she made no movement toward Asano. She only stared at Ashitaka, who continued to stare back, both feeling helpless with failure. San couldn't believe that this pitiless warlord was going to tear him away from her again, and she was again powerless to do anything about it. She only half-noticed Kinjiru walking alongside her, still using Jiko as a human shield, and the way he guided her out into the main courtyard, where San was finally forced to break her gaze.

Jiko began to talk with a great deal of urgency.

"Listen, both of you- I don't have much time- if Asano finds any of my men, you'll both be shot as you leave. I need to explain this quickly. I tried to kill Asano, but my shot got bungled by that arrow."

San looked at Jiko scathingly, now knowing the source of that pain from her leg earlier. 

"You can't blame me now, because I have to explain- that dart was poisoned. Powerful stuff- it'll deaden your skin bit by bit until you finally die when it hits your heart or lungs. You took only a very small cut, but at best you'll have a couple of days before…before the inevitable happens."

"What are you saying? San's doomed to die? There's no way to stop it?" Kinjiru asked, still holding the blade at Jiko's throat.

"Kinjiru, right? I don't know of any antidote, but there's someone who might. Give this-" Jiko pulled from his belt a roll of parchment bound with twine. It held his personal seal on the outside, but neither San nor Kinjiru had any knowledge of what the symbol there meant. "- to Lady Eboshi. Explain what happened here, the message will tell the rest. She might be able to help you, but I can't offer any guarantee."

"So you're saying that she'll probably die anyway? What's to keep me from killing you now?" Kinjiru asked, drawing back his arm to run through Jiko's throat.

San caught it. "Kinjiru! Stop!" She turned to Jiko, her mask inches from his nose. "We'll take the message of yours to that damned woman. Just…make sure Ashitaka is safe. If he dies…I'll hunt you until one of us drops dead. And if I die, I'm sure he'll do the same."

"Look, I'm sorry. I'll make amends, but right now I've got war games to play. I'll do as you ask."

San took the message from Jiko and nodded to Kinjiru. The cat released his hold on Jiko, who stepped away and rubbed his neck. 

"Thanks. And by the way, good luck."

San looked at him strangely. "Luck" was a new word to her, as her life in the forest had always been definite. There was never any luck in fighting Eboshi and her people, only skill. San had always expected to live, and keep fighting. Now, however, San had no control over her situation- it was an indefinite world that lay ahead, and as San turned to walk away with Kinjiru covering her back, she knew that for the first time she could not be sure she would live out this conflict. 

As San reached the palace gates, the battle-painted form of Kuma Tsume greeted her, flanked on both sides by her blood-covered brothers. The fight had been a massacre with Asano's troops leaving civilians to their own devices. San was exhausted. She bowed very slightly to Kuma Tsume, but then climbed onto Shiroi, wordless.

Kinjiru decided to explain. "Congratulations on your victory today, Kuma Tsume. The last of the humans lie within- we leave you to the joys of their extermination. Unfortunately, we will be unable to stay any longer- a crisis has arrived we must manage. We offer our greatest sympathies, honorable chieftain."

"That is fine, young warrior. I look forward to fighting alongside the tribes of wolf and cat again, and wish you a swift journey." The bear god bowed. 

Shiroi turned around to leave with San still looking back at the palace. The wolf was standing just inside the gate of the palace when a sudden whirring sound sliced the air and a blade clipped his fur just above the neck. The spinning sword slammed blade first into the wall, and the bright pommel of Ashitaka's sword stood shaking out of the wood.

San stared and then reached forward to pull it out- it was lodged in deeply. She turned and looked back disbelievingly towards the palace's low slung entrance- it would have taken the demon strength to throw with that force and distance.

"Ashitaka?" She whispered. Kinjiru climbed onto Kuroi and the wolf jerked his head at his brother. Shiroi turned and the two began a swift run away from the palace and through the bloody streets of the former city of Kaigan.

The sun was falling in the sky as the bear tribe stormed the empty palace and the last humans alive from Kaigan left in the small military fleet, Ashitaka standing on the bow of a boat under the watch of Taisho and viewing the ruins of the city, wondering where San was.

San looked out over the slow river and bay past Kaigan's ruins and watched the ships inch away into the sea, cradling Ashitaka's sword on her lap as the numbness in her leg spread slowly further. Shiroi turned and San broke her gaze. Though her life was uncertain and her death likely, San promised herself that surely she would see him again.

~

DISCLAIMER AND OTHER INTERESTING FACTOIDS TO NOURISH YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF BASIC JAPANESE! (In which I have no skill whatsoever…)

Concerning ownership and character names…

San, Ashitaka, Lady Eboshi, Gonza, the "unnamed" wolf brothers, Moro, Okkoto, Nago (not even sure I mentioned him), the concept of Asano, and everyone else originally appearing or referenced in Princess Mononoke (Mononoke Hime for you hardcore fans out there) are property of Hiyao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, Miramax, Disney, Buena Vista Home Entertainment, and whomever else they came into contact with along the long and complicated journey to America.

Characters of my own creation include the following; with a bit of background on each for those of you who haven't realized just how much of this is basic Japanese:

Asano – well, I flushed out his personality and physically created him. Think you know Asano? There's a bit about him you don't quite know yet.

Kuroi and Shiroi – I expanded a bit on them (They might be twins but from experience twins are usually different) and gave them names. The names also are a duality in that they reflect personality differences- "kuroi" means "black", "shiroi" means "white". Imagine that. 

Taisho – Definitely filched this one from the Jap-English dictionary. Taisho means "general (military), leader, admiral". Asano's bodyguard and general.

Kaigan – Means "seashore, coast, seaside, beach". Kaigan's an almost-coastal city, really planted on a lan jut in a large bay.

Tobira – Tobira, the doorkeeper of Kaigan, has a name that literally means "door". Probably dead. We'll see.

Kinjiru – "Forbid". Cat prince. Let's leave it at that- actions speak louder than authors.

Shirei Chokan – Naval combat expert and the emperor's admiral, if you put together the first and last name you get one word: "admiral".

…thus ends chapter 6. Took long enough just to finish the edit. My apologies to Cowgrree, as it took me ages to get around to just finishing this, but I do have the knowledge I beat a few readers to reading chapter 5 (you know who you are). Part seven shall be up hopefully in December, before Christmas. Happy holidays!

…and the obligatory review request is supposed to go here, but if you've read this far, you're either a diehard who has to finish something even if you hate it or you're someone who likes/loves/is indifferent towards the fic. Drop me a line, I need a bit of motivation to stoke my creative muse.

* * *


	7. Irontown

~  
  
Night had come, but the endless rock of Shiroi's legs carried on as San tried her best to stay awake. Her brothers had been running since the sun had hovered above the horizon like a golden eye, bearing judgment on the city of Kaigan, but now the moon was high overhead and Moro's sons showed little sign of slowing their pace. Shiroi had set the cadence, one he was sure he could maintain, and Kuroi, with a rare display of patience that he normally reserved for the hunt, was immediately matching him. San had taken a second to look at Kinjiru every now and then- the cat had been sitting with his arms half crossed, holding onto a double handful of fur. San turned her eyes back ahead and listened to the rhythm of Shiroi's feet over the ever-uneven ground.  
  
"San." Shiroi grunted back through breaths of air. "We should reach home by morning."  
  
San was silent for a moment. She had been alone with her thoughts for hours, and found her voice was slow in coming. "Can you keep this pace?" She asked.  
  
"For you...of course," Shiroi said, nodding to his brother as the two of them turned and adjusted their direction.  
  
Kinjiru stirred from Kuroi's back. The cat-boy stretched out each of his arms, one at a time, and then pulled back his mask and wiped his brow. He turned to look at San, his eyes glittering silver in the pale moonlight.  
  
"How are you doing?" He asked, turning back to check his grip.  
  
"Fine," San said, staring straight ahead, not feeling much like talking to him. She was terse, sparing with her words. Kinjiru settled back to the way he sat before and said nothing. San was left to her own thoughts as the tall grasses nicked by on either side, rolling out for as far as the moonlight shone. On the horizon was a thick dark line: trees. Beyond that would be a river, and then it would be only a few hours of riding until they were back home.  
  
Beyond the upcoming morning, San could see nothing in her future. Ashitaka, Kinjiru, Eboshi, Asano...the conflicts raging around her were insignificant. Ashitaka had ridden Yakkul to Irontown with a poison wound crippling his arm not a month ago, and now the circumstances were strangely reversed. Ashitaka had sought redemption, now San was seeking revenge. But even revenge is pacified by the cooling touch of death, the same cold mark that ran across the Emishi boy's arm and the wolf princess's leg.  
  
~  
  
Hours away, waves sloshed without cease against the bows of Chokan's ships as they gently rode the coastline swells. Crammed amidst the cargo hold were scribes, court members, advisors, and the rest of Asano's personal staff. They were the favored few. The rest had died deaths at the hands of claws and fangs, trampling hooves and ivory tusks. For now, they huddled together, fearful of their fate and listening to the shifting seas surrounding them.  
  
Asano was too restless to rest. He had much on his mind. While his court was crowded below decks, the minute fraction of his army that had come this far stood or crouched on deck, and he leaned at the bow of the ship. Seijin stood next to him, clutching his arms to his chest, shivering in the wind. The advisor's decades of soft life did little for him outside of a court.  
  
Chokan made his rounds, making sure that everything was in order. His crew was as resentful as he was of these passengers, but would cooperate. The admiral stepped up to the front of the boat and stood by Asano.  
  
"I estimate several days sailing until we arrive. You are fortunate- we have sufficient provisions on board to get us through this little fiasco. I had never bargained on taking your entire palace on board." Chokan's voice was laden with contempt. He had been reduced from an admiral, the king of his emperor's seas, to a ferryman.  
  
"It was no doing of mine. You know as well as I do that I couldn't just leave them to die." Asano snapped.  
  
'No,' thought Seijin, 'but you were perfectly content to leave the rest of your city to be slaughtered.'  
  
"We have some ships trailing us. Small fishing vessels. I assume they are from your city, or should I say 'former city'."  
  
"Let them trail if they wish. I trust in their resourcefulness."  
  
"Very well." Chokan turned and walked away, his steps ringing out on the well-treaded wood.  
  
"Seijin," Asano snapped, his eyes never wavering from the sea ahead. "What about the boy? Where is he?"  
  
Seijin shivered and answered with his chin still tucked into his chest. "Below decks in a walled off room. He is alone."  
  
"Very well. Get yourself out of this weather- you need to be in fine form for when we arrive and meet the emperor."  
  
"Yes, my lord." Seijin said as he walked away, glad to have respite from the stinging winds.  
  
'This is all but a detour. My stopover to see the emperor will only be a brief sojourn to pick up more troops. From there, I'll be able to head and crush Eboshi. After all, I still hold the key to her city." Asano smiled. He would talk to the boy later. Until then, he would sit, and wait. He was patient.  
  
~  
  
Shiroi and Kuroi slowed to a stop in the middle of a forest; at the same pace still several hours from home. A river ran lazily through the trees, shimmering in the moonlight. Shiroi growled out loud enough for both San and Kinjiru to hear, "We need to find where we crossed this river before. You two can rest for a short while."  
  
San carefully lowered herself off Shiroi's back, conscious of the numbness in her foot, not trusting it to support her weight. On the ground, she limped, testing the limb for how it would hold. The numbness had spread up through her shin, nearly through her knee, but for the most part, the rest of her leg was responsive. Kinjiru walked over, removing his mask and hooking it onto his belt.  
  
"How is it?" he asked.  
  
"Getting worse like the monk said."  
  
Kinjiru nodded. "If we were to tie your leg, we might be able to slow the spread of the poison."  
  
San looked at him, then moved over to a rock and took a seat. Kinjiru began unwinding one of him arm wrappings, taking the blade and jamming it into his belt. The skin on his forearm was a striking pale compared to the rest of his tanned complexion. He started wrapping San's leg just below the knee, tightly binding her leg down to the ankle. San gritted her teeth- he was making the bind as tight as he could. He knotted the wrapping and stood back, offering San a hand to help get up. She was pulled to her feet, testing the leg again and finding no real loss of mobility. She nodded a quiet thanks. Kinjiru smiled at her, letting go of her hand. He walked over to the edge of the river, stooped, and drank.  
  
San stood behind him, watching her brothers scout the shore, finding the best possible place to cross. Kinjiru stood, picking up a rock as he stood, and flung it sidearm across the river. It bounced a few times before sinking with a pop. The silence then proceeded to close again around that one noise.  
  
Kinjiru shifted uneasily, then said, "I'm sorry to impose, but I must know: who is this Lady Eboshi?"  
  
San grimaced. "A true devil of a human woman, if there ever was one. She lives for no reason other than to kill and destroy to make the world subjective to her whims. She takes huge tracks of forest, kills the creatures there or drives them out, and then destroys all the trees. The noise of it- have you ever heard the sound of a thousand trees being killed? Mother taught me at a young age the horror of it.  
  
"From there she takes the land and churns its soils, stripping it of the iron, what makes the soils around the forest so red. The iron is carried back to her city, a terrible place belching smoke into the sky and filling the air with smells that sting when you breathe in. There she melts the iron and uses it to make her iron bows and fire arrows, and uses them to take more forest from the mountains and turn it into scabland."  
  
Kinjiru said nothing for a moment, absorbing the images San gave. San sighed, having rid herself of some venom on Lady Eboshi, but now feeling cold as the warmth of her hatred left her. Her brothers returned, and stood on either side of her. Kinjiru looked straight into her eyes, his hands clenched.  
  
"And she is the woman that killed the spirit of your forest?" Kinjiru asked.  
  
"Yes. And one day, I will kill her, to avenge my mother, and Okkotonushi, and the forest spirit."  
  
"We relish the day she dies." Kuroi growled, startling Kinjiru.  
  
"You are brave to fight such evil. I look forward to facing this devil woman face to face. Know that the enemy of the wolf tribe is my enemy."  
  
"Thank you, Kinjiru." San replied, pulling her wolfskin cape around her as best she could as she could, climbing onto Shiroi's back as Kinjiru pulled himself onto Kuroi's. The silence filled the air again, but it was pointedly directed to a place in the east, on the edge of the forest, called Irontown. The woman all four held a vow to kill was the same they sought for help.  
  
~  
  
Jiko Bou leaned on a rail in the aft of the vessel he was on, preferring the high spot to keep an eye on everything, specifically, on Asano. The warlord had proved rather dull thus far. His advisor had gone in out of the cold some half hour ago, but both Jiko and Asano remained. Jiko was again flanked by a pair of hunter-killers, easily weathering the cold air.  
  
The approaching creak of steps belonged to the first mate. The second in command was traveling on a different ship than he normally would have as per Chokan's orders. Jiko smiled. Chokan didn't know where his first mate's true alliances were. Had he such knowledge, things would have been different. The first mate was a less dashing figure than Chokan, but the cut of his armor and the gleam in his eye as he approached Jiko made him look like death itself. Jiko would have been unimpressed even if it were reality.  
  
"Good evening, master Jiko. Are you well?"  
  
"As well as I can be." Jiko grinned. "What's the situation with the captain and Asano?"  
  
"A minor argument, from what I've heard. Unimportant. We'll sail steady until our arrival."  
  
"Excellent. What about the boy?"  
  
"As you instructed, he's in isolation. What is he, master Jiko? A spy?"  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jiko asked. "He'll be important later. Make sure none of the crew goes near him. I know I can trust you."  
  
"Of course, master Jiko." The first mate bowed and turned away.  
  
"Keep an eye on him, boys." Jiko said to his hunter-killers. "That's the kind of disposable hireling I'm supposed to work with- nothing more than a leech in armor."  
  
"What are you asking, master Jiko?" One of the hunter-killers asked. A blade appeared in his hand.  
  
"Well...let's just say a man like that won't be around long. But don't you get any ideas, all right? We've got bigger fish to fry." Jiko snickered.  
  
~  
  
Dawn cracked cold and clear through the leaves of the forest of the gods, making intricate interweaving patterns on the backs of Kuroi and Shiroi. The brothers had slowed to a walk, worn out. San shook herself out of a cold chill, wiping the dew off her skin where it had settled. She must have fallen asleep for some time, but she was not rested in the slightest. She tapped Shiroi on the ear and he stopped, Kuroi turned and did the same. San lowered herself off Shiroi's back and settled herself lightly on the ground, supporting her weight on her good foot. It seemed like Kinjiru's wrapping had done the work- the numbness had slowed down to a crawl, not yet quite past her knee. San rubbed warmth back into her limbs as Kinjiru stirred and lowered himself to the ground. He was taking in the forest with wide, gray eyes, catlike in that they observed as much as they could before he looked elsewhere. All the while, he was rubbing the stiffness out of his arms.  
  
"It's a beautiful place. Not like my forest. Much older, and more...regal." He said, admiring the high vaulting arches the trees made overhead.  
  
"It was a fitting home for the forest spirit." San said. "But without him here physically, it's vulnerable. Mother is gone, Nago is gone...and I'm left."  
  
Kinjiru stared at her with his gray gaze, and having detected something in her voice responded, "We'll make sure you are here to guard this forest, San."  
  
San started walking, Kinjiru trailing only a few feet behind, her brothers splitting off to either side to walk at their own paces. San knew that she was in the far end of the forest, near the vast tracts of grass and mud between the forest and Irontown, and that only a few minutes walk would see the end of foliage and the opening into a much more barren world.  
  
The end of the trees was abrupt, closer than San had thought. She stood, one palm resting against a nearby trunk as she stared upon Irontown again. Kinjiru joined her and gazed upon the site with an impassive silence. Irontown had returned to its previous state much faster than San would have thought. While the ruins of the great tatara-ba had been shredded by Irontown workers for wood, and the mining operations had seen severe setbacks, Irontown was regenerating daily. San noticed with pointed disgust it was much more brown in color than when she had last seen it, the plants being cleared away for human living space. Small fires burned here and there, and a party of workers was restructuring the water sluices carved into the mountainside.  
  
"They have learned nothing." San spat. Kuroi and Shiroi growled from either side. San turned to Kinjiru. "Let's go. I don't want to be around those humans an instant longer than I have to." She gently set down Ashitaka's sword against a tree where she could find it, then stepped out of the tree cover.  
  
San started off down the gently sloping grass towards the lake, Kinjiru following closely behind. The grass had seemingly retained the vigor instilled into it by the forest spirit, and now was easily waist high. Kinjiru alternated his eyes between watching his feet as best he could and looking at the massive, still mossy walls of Irontown. While Kinjiru didn't notice, San stumbled once or twice on her tightly bandaged leg, but immediately regained her composure. San walked in a long arc, and it took the two of them up along to where the grasses thinned out from constant wear by human feet. At the end of the tall grass, her brothers stopped. They would never be allowed in Irontown, and San nodded a quiet goodbye to them. They watched the pair for a moment before heading back at a lope to the woods, where they would watch and still be near enough to help.  
  
The grass became more and more sparse, eventually giving way to dirt, and the ground here rose to form one side of the trench cut by Lady Eboshi to protect her city. The still-formidable wood spines that lined the Irontown side of the ravine were overwhelmed in wiry vines and curling creepers. Ahead of them, San picked up cries that were dispersed by the wind- "It's the wolf girl!" "Close the gates!"  
  
Finally, the gate of Irontown stood before San and Kinjiru, blocking the way to Lady Eboshi. San thumbed at the message she had, folded twice and tucked under one of her armbands. A lone woman's head, smeared with the filth that was still all over Irontown, peered over from the crenellated wall.  
  
"What do you want, wolf girl?" the woman called down, a second and third head peering over the embattlements.  
  
"I have a message for the Eboshi woman. Let me in so I may speak with her." San shouted back, using her best intimidating voice. San couldn't see herself, but she looked the part of intimidation. Her facepaint was smeared only slightly, and from the vantage point on the wall San appeared to have less flesh than fur. The women on the walltop were unconvinced that "speaking" with Lady Eboshi was a priority with the wolf princess.  
  
The faces disappeared over the wall, obviously debating what to do. San turned to look at Kinjiru, who was still keeping an eye on the walltop. "They'll stall just to irritate me," San said, not loudly enough to carry up to the women on the walltop.  
  
~  
  
Gonza strode through the city, rifleman and peasant woman alike scurrying out of his way. He walked at a pace that was leisurely for him, but still was an impressive stride. In a matter of minutes he crossed the city center, only several more and he had topped the hill to Eboshi's newly- restored living spaces. He passed from room to room until he arrived at the back door of the building, the door to the garden. This was the one place Gonza felt he had no reason- or want- to be. Still standing inside the safety of the door, he spoke to the lone leper tending the neat rows of medicinal plants and asked him- or her, beneath those bandages he could hardly tell- to fetch Eboshi.  
  
Eboshi arrived not two minutes later, rubbing away some gunpowder between the fingers on her hand and shaking the soot from her coat. She brushed by Gonza and moved into the main entry hall that ran through most of the building. Leaning against the entryway, she finally spoke.  
  
"What is it, Gonza? A matter between the people?"  
  
"No, milady. You have visitors," Gonza said, bowing his head.  
  
"Well? Where are they?"  
  
"Erm...we're not certain we should let them in." Eboshi turned with a look of question towards her second-in-command. "It's the wolf girl...and someone else. Not Ashitaka. Says she has a message for you."  
  
Eboshi turned back to look out on Irontown, her gaze far off onto the distant gate. When she heard "wolf girl" she thought Ashitaka might finally have bit the bullet and tried to civilize his bride. That, or she had come to try and kill her again. Apparently, neither of those situations was the case.  
  
"Let her in, but make sure that she knows we're keeping a very close eye on her. I'll meet her and her friend here shortly."  
  
~  
  
Kinjiru gazed out of the corner of his eye at one of the dozen riflemen who were acting as an escort to San and he. These humans obviously enjoyed a good show of force, and they apparently brought some of the weapons San had mentioned. Still, they looked nervous, and Kinjiru was ready to bet that if San were in full form, without an impaired leg, they could easily take on two-dozen of the armed humans.  
  
San wasn't doing much in the way of taking in her surroundings. She had been in Irontown before and had seen as much of it as she ever wanted too. The humans hadn't let the growth from the Shishi-gami stop them for long. It appeared what they hadn't hacked away or burned off was either trampled into the ground or slowly being poisoned in the filthy atmosphere. San kept her eyes on the road ahead and her ears intent on the footsteps of Gonza behind her. They had been permitted to enter armed, but the Irontown wall guard had taken the day off to make sure they didn't try anything.  
  
Eboshi stood regally at her door, watching as Gonza and twelve of her personally trained guards escorted her "guests". The wolf girl was there, all right, and it seemed she brought along a friend of similar ilk. The lithe boy looked to be about the same age, and kept a wary eye on the guards around him. The girl, however, was meeting Eboshi eye-to-eye the entire walk up the hill.  
  
"Welcome...welcome, San of the wolf tribe." Eboshi said it in her most frigid voice possible, but to her it was still like swallowing a fistful of bullets.  
  
"I come on behalf of Ashitaka. Let me make it clear that there is nothing but hate in my soul for you, Eboshi." San said back, equally hating.  
  
"I agree." Eboshi said. For a moment the two squared off with eyes and brains, each pondering slitting the throat of the other. San was measurably shorter than Eboshi, but she carried the exact same aura that commanded respect. For a moment, Kinjiru and Gonza stood in the background, totally forgotten. Gonza shifted uneasily, Kinjiru closely regarded the two while keeping an open ear to the movement around him.  
  
"What brings you to me? Surely something dire." Eboshi said, going out of her way to add some extra venom.  
  
"I told you. I'm here for Ashitaka. And I have a message for you."  
  
"Well, let's not stand outside all day. Come on in, if you will. It's no dirt den, but you might find it suitable, little princess."  
  
Careful, San thought. She's trying to bait me. San walked forward into the darkness.  
  
Gonza made a deft movement with his hands and the riflemen walked away, uneasy. Kinjiru followed San, his senses stretched to the limit. Eboshi sat down on her personal chair, comparatively simple to the throne Asano owned.  
  
"Well, let's see what you've got." San handed her the note. Eboshi glanced at the seal. "Why is Jiko Bou sending me a letter by you, of all people?" San remained silent as Eboshi broke the seal and scanned the message.  
  
"Very interesting. I had my suspicions of whose side Jiko was on, but now I'm again not so sure." Eboshi muttered to herself softly and then looked up. "So why are you here, and why is Ashitaka not?"  
  
San glared at her. "Ashitaka...is still with Asano. I was poisoned during the battle. The monk thought you might be able to...help."  
  
Eboshi smiled. This was rich, she thought. The wolf girl crawling back to her for help. It was a miracle she had come down from her bestial snobbishness to actually accept her help. She must truly be desperate.  
  
"And what will you do if I can heal you?" Eboshi asked of her.  
  
"Rescue Ashitaka." San answered.  
  
"...I owe Ashitaka," Eboshi said, rolling her debts around in her mind, "and I owe you. Very well. You and your mute friend can follow me." Eboshi stood and turned toward her back door. "Gonza, cover my duties for me until I return."  
  
"But...milady..." Gonza stammered, unsure if it was anything less than foolish to leave his leader alone.  
  
Eboshi turned a cold shoulder to Gonza and walked out into her garden. It was one of the first things she had rebuilt since the catastrophe, partly because its reconstruction had been facilitated by the rampant growth after the incident, and partly because of the food and medicinal supplies it procured. A single leper, wrapped in a long shawl, rested against the door. He bowed his head as Eboshi passed, and turned one good eye on the two strangers who followed.  
  
Inside the leper quarters, a score and odd invalids worked quietly on various pet projects as Eboshi entered. Several heads turned that direction, the soft murmuring voices and tapping of metal on metal went uninterrupted.  
  
San entered and everything stopped. Something in the far corner of the workshop clattered to the floor, no longer tended by the numb hands that had been working with it. Several smaller hand pistols were uncovered from their resting places and there was the soft sound of a gun lock going to. Eboshi waved her hand. The lepers, still no less tense, began to resume their work with a measured caution, and no small number of sideways glances at San.  
  
Kinjiru noted something particular on the air, a whirlwind of unfamiliar scents to his experienced nose. Gunpowder, iron shavings, freshly worked wood, and a few stray smells of rice wine were present. But under all this was a scent that thrilled and froze him where he stood. The faint and musty odor of something dead or rotting. A dry, sickly scent that was not death, but decay. He reflexively took a step back, and Eboshi's eyes fell upon him.  
  
"You have realized what these people are? Lepers. The dregs of humanity, here turned into the most valuable craftsmen in all the world. They are my chosen people, and they have proved to be invaluable to me."  
  
"Lepers?" San said. The word was new to her. She had detected the faint stench in the air but couldn't place what it was.  
  
"You and your sheltered little forest life. Let me explain to you, in simple terms you can understand. These people are half dead. They have a disease that will slowly eat them away, flesh from bone and limb from body, until it kills them." Eboshi turned and looked at the corner, to an unoccupied cot. Up until only a few weeks ago, her oldest comrade had rested there. Eboshi resumed. "It is not unlike the curse Prince Ashitaka was under, but instead of coming in pain, this disease works with the numb hands of death."  
  
"Why are we here?" San said. Had the woman brought her here to kill her? To give her this horrible...curse?  
  
"I believe that one of these people may have the skill to cure you." Eboshi said. "Follow me."  
  
Stepping on a narrow path winding between at least a dozen glaring lepers, San was led to the far wall of the room, where one leper tended between the matches she was assembling in front of her and the drying plants hanging down from the ceiling. All forms, many ones that did not grow in the great forest, creating around her a sort of dry and brown shrine. The leper finished the head of the last match and set it aside. A pair of large, somber eyes moved across Lady Eboshi, and then to San, and then to San's leg.  
  
"This is Ishi, my chief physician. She cannot speak to you, as her voice has been taken, so explain well the poison and its effects."  
  
San lowered herself into a sitting position and unwound the wrap around her leg. The first few inches were normal, but San noticed she couldn't feel anything, not even the loss of pressure as the wrap unwound. When San reached the middle of her shin, however, the skin turned a striking and sickly shady of gray. Ishi's eyes nearly disappeared behind the bandages wound around her head. The physician made a sharp sound as she drew in a quick breath through her nose, then learned forward to better inspect the wound. San noticed that she never touched it, although her bandaged hands, seemingly devoid of all digits except thumbs, hovered around the mark. The single point where the dart had stuck had almost turned night-sky gray, and stood out very slightly, not unlike an insect sting.  
  
Ishi leaned back and raised her hands over her head, running her palms across a plant here, then there. Kinjiru observed the whole scene from the doorway, one foot in the building and his eyes splitting their time between San and the lepers. Finally, Ishi brought her hands back down, only one plant clutched firmly between her thumb and the side of her hand.  
  
"It's a painkiller." Eboshi said, reading her subject's eyes. "Is that...all you can offer?" Eboshi asked the doctor. Ishi shook her head and closed her eyes.  
  
"I have no need for your human medicine." San said, and she tried to stand. Her bad leg gave out from under her, and she caught herself from falling onto the floor mat. The leper and Eboshi both made a move forward as if to help, and San's knife was out in a flash. Kinjiru was similarly and suddenly armed, and several matchlock firearms bristled again among the lepers, aimed to kill.  
  
San's head pounded under the stress and adrenaline of the situation. "I'm not here to kill the damn woman." San repeated to herself mentally. Her vision blurred, and for an instant she thought she was losing consciousness. She closed her eyes to try and shake off the dizziness and opened them to find the world painted in the colors a god would see it in. But something was wrong. Eboshi stood out in the room as being the same brilliant mortal red, but the men and women who were her own private people showed no such coloring. They were a dull, brown-colored red, the color of iron clay. San knew instinctively that what Eboshi had said was true: her people were dying.  
  
San reluctantly lowered and sheathed the blade, and again stood, this time putting much more weight on her good leg. "You hold no cure for me. My death is coming not from pain, but from this cold unfeeling human curse." She spat.  
  
Eboshi smiled grimly. "Then go, wolf girl. Crawl back to your cave and die there. There is no more help for you in Irontown."  
  
San limped heavily over to the door, walking backwards despite the difficulties of her leg. She wouldn't be so foolish as to turn her back on a room full of gun-toting humans. She stopped when her back gently met Kinjiru's palm, then the same hand went to her shoulder. The god vision slowly bled away as San blinked several final times, then she turned to Kinjiru. He offered San his arm, and San leaned on him as they walked slowly out of the room and through the garden.  
  
Eboshi frowned. Ashitaka and the wolf girl had become so intertwined that the death of one of them would certainly bode ill for the other. What was this remorse in her heart? Sadness for Ashitaka, or for not being able to help someone? Eboshi had done so much to help so many mortal afflictions in the past, but had finally come across one that medicine could not treat and kindness could not touch.  
  
Kinjiru supported San's weight as they walked through the narrow garden path, into and through the main hall, and then down the front hill of Eboshi's headquarters. The long walk through the market was an eternity, with what seemed like every citizen in Irontown stopping their mid- afternoon work to come and watch the retreat of the wolf princess. Finally, beyond the gate of Irontown, the two stopped.  
  
"San," came a voice from the battlements. Eboshi was there, looking down from the safety of her fortress wall.  
  
"I'm sorry." Came the voice of the matriarch of Irontown.  
  
Shiroi and Kuroi arrived at a full run from the edge of the forest, and San mounted herself on her brother's back, Kinjiru doing likewise. San gave one cold, piercing stare at the woman she still lived to hate, and longer to kill. Eboshi smiled such that the girl could not see. With that final eye contact, the wolf girl and her prince companion returned to the forest of the gods.  
  
Eboshi descended the stairs from the walltop, surrounded by her jabbering townsfolk. Gonza made his way through the crowd, finally reunited with his superior.  
  
"Milady!" He said, flabbergasted in his usual manner that he had left her side for not ten minutes yet she was still alive. "You're safe! Where did the wolf girl go?"  
  
Eboshi glanced towards the gate, and the forest beyond. "To die." Eboshi said. "But it seems so unjust that she never did get a second chance to try and kill me. Fortune is an impartial thing." Eboshi rubbed the cloaks where her arm used to be and walked through the crowds, parting way before her. 


End file.
